Here are five best practices for improving profits at your GI/endoscopy-driven ASC.
1. Add a procedure that competitors don't offer. Philip Grossman, MD, FACP, FACG, AGAF, FASGE, CEO and medical director of Kendall Endoscopy and Surgery Center in Miami, says his ASC has experienced the best results from direct-to-consumer marketing when the facility adds a procedure or service not available elsewhere.
"For example, a new medical device comes out and it's in clinical trials, and it saves somebody from a big operation to fix a problem, and the physician who's running it is in your facility," he says. "You might put out an ad that says, 'Do you suffer from heartburn? Are you tired of taking pills every day? Come to the XYZ ASC and get your heartburn solved without medication or surgery." He says the new procedure has to target a large enough segment of the population that the cost of the marketing is offset by your increased revenue.
From: 3 Ideas for Boosting GI Case Volume Through Marketing
2. Task business office managers with one cost saving project per month. Every month, Nancy Le Nikolovski, administrator of Physicians Endoscopy Center in Houston, asks her business office managers to try to reduce the cost of one item in the ASC. Instead of inundating her staff with a long list of desired cost savings, she says isolating one item makes it easier to identify savings and research different vendors and discounts.
"It could be as simple as refreshments," she says. "It adds up. One time my business office manager looked at [coffee in the ASC] and realized the price had gone up by a dollar." She says frequently overlooked items may be a good source for savings in your ASC, as staff members may not have analyzed potential discounts before.
From: 5 Ways to Save Money on Supplies in a GI-Driven ASC
3. Look for cheaper alternatives to GI surgery center supplies. Karen Smith, nursing director at Central Illinois Endoscopy Center in Peoria, Ill., says her ASC is in the process of receiving approval to purchase a system for all endoscopy rooms that would take care of liquid waste, thereby saving money on costs tied to disposing red-bag or medical waste. Instead of spending thousands of dollars a month to have medical waste sent out of the ASC, this suctioning system would rid of medical waste by flushing it from the facility straight into a sewage drain. Ms. Smith says by investing in the system, Central Illinois Endoscopy will save more than $10,000 annually.
From: 3 Ways to Increase Savings for Surgery Center Supplies
4. Regularly benchmark your ASC. Benchmarking is a crucial best practice to adopt because it allows GI/endoscopy-driven ASCs to pinpoint areas of weakness and implement processes and procedures that will improve the ASC accordingly. Bunny Twiford, RN, president of Twiford Consulting in Warminster, Pa., says one parameter GI/endoscopy-driven ASCs should benchmark is length of the procedure versus scheduling allotments. Benchmarking this will allow facilities to better schedule procedures for improved room utilization and patient throughput. "A physician might say he can do an EGD in 10 minutes, but when you go back through your ASC's records you find that this physician's average EGD is more in the 15-20 minute range," Ms. Twiford says. "This causes the front desk to deliver the news to some patients that their procedure will be delayed, and this is not what the patient wants to hear upon arriving for a procedure."
From: 6 Things GI/Endoscopy-Driven ASCs Should Benchmark
5. Increase patient volume by working with primary care physicians. Cindy Givens, executive director at Surgery Center at Tanasbourne in Hillsboro, Ore., says developing working relationships with primary care physicians at other facilities and organizations as well as independent primary care physicians is a best practice for increasing patient volume, particularly for colonoscopy cases. Ms. Givens worked with her staff to create a patient packet to distribute to the primary care physicians to give to patients they refer to the center. This way, the primary care physicians really have to do nothing else but fill out the referral form and send over their patients' insurance/demographics information and history and physical, which makes it much easier for them.
"In those packets, there is additional information on how patients can schedule screenings with us, prep instructions, facts about colonoscopies, what a clear liquid diet is and so on," she says. "We also put this information up on our website so our tech-savvy patients can go straight there and find the information they seek."
From: 4 Steps to Increase Screening Colonoscopy Cases
1. Add a procedure that competitors don't offer. Philip Grossman, MD, FACP, FACG, AGAF, FASGE, CEO and medical director of Kendall Endoscopy and Surgery Center in Miami, says his ASC has experienced the best results from direct-to-consumer marketing when the facility adds a procedure or service not available elsewhere.
"For example, a new medical device comes out and it's in clinical trials, and it saves somebody from a big operation to fix a problem, and the physician who's running it is in your facility," he says. "You might put out an ad that says, 'Do you suffer from heartburn? Are you tired of taking pills every day? Come to the XYZ ASC and get your heartburn solved without medication or surgery." He says the new procedure has to target a large enough segment of the population that the cost of the marketing is offset by your increased revenue.
From: 3 Ideas for Boosting GI Case Volume Through Marketing
2. Task business office managers with one cost saving project per month. Every month, Nancy Le Nikolovski, administrator of Physicians Endoscopy Center in Houston, asks her business office managers to try to reduce the cost of one item in the ASC. Instead of inundating her staff with a long list of desired cost savings, she says isolating one item makes it easier to identify savings and research different vendors and discounts.
"It could be as simple as refreshments," she says. "It adds up. One time my business office manager looked at [coffee in the ASC] and realized the price had gone up by a dollar." She says frequently overlooked items may be a good source for savings in your ASC, as staff members may not have analyzed potential discounts before.
From: 5 Ways to Save Money on Supplies in a GI-Driven ASC
3. Look for cheaper alternatives to GI surgery center supplies. Karen Smith, nursing director at Central Illinois Endoscopy Center in Peoria, Ill., says her ASC is in the process of receiving approval to purchase a system for all endoscopy rooms that would take care of liquid waste, thereby saving money on costs tied to disposing red-bag or medical waste. Instead of spending thousands of dollars a month to have medical waste sent out of the ASC, this suctioning system would rid of medical waste by flushing it from the facility straight into a sewage drain. Ms. Smith says by investing in the system, Central Illinois Endoscopy will save more than $10,000 annually.
From: 3 Ways to Increase Savings for Surgery Center Supplies
4. Regularly benchmark your ASC. Benchmarking is a crucial best practice to adopt because it allows GI/endoscopy-driven ASCs to pinpoint areas of weakness and implement processes and procedures that will improve the ASC accordingly. Bunny Twiford, RN, president of Twiford Consulting in Warminster, Pa., says one parameter GI/endoscopy-driven ASCs should benchmark is length of the procedure versus scheduling allotments. Benchmarking this will allow facilities to better schedule procedures for improved room utilization and patient throughput. "A physician might say he can do an EGD in 10 minutes, but when you go back through your ASC's records you find that this physician's average EGD is more in the 15-20 minute range," Ms. Twiford says. "This causes the front desk to deliver the news to some patients that their procedure will be delayed, and this is not what the patient wants to hear upon arriving for a procedure."
From: 6 Things GI/Endoscopy-Driven ASCs Should Benchmark
5. Increase patient volume by working with primary care physicians. Cindy Givens, executive director at Surgery Center at Tanasbourne in Hillsboro, Ore., says developing working relationships with primary care physicians at other facilities and organizations as well as independent primary care physicians is a best practice for increasing patient volume, particularly for colonoscopy cases. Ms. Givens worked with her staff to create a patient packet to distribute to the primary care physicians to give to patients they refer to the center. This way, the primary care physicians really have to do nothing else but fill out the referral form and send over their patients' insurance/demographics information and history and physical, which makes it much easier for them.
"In those packets, there is additional information on how patients can schedule screenings with us, prep instructions, facts about colonoscopies, what a clear liquid diet is and so on," she says. "We also put this information up on our website so our tech-savvy patients can go straight there and find the information they seek."
From: 4 Steps to Increase Screening Colonoscopy Cases