Ambulatory Surgery Centers, which can be referred interchangeably with outpatient surgery or same day surgery centers, are strewn all across the country. These are also medical facilities that have the capacity to perform surgery, but overnight hospitalization is not required. They deal with less complex surgeries.
Doing surgeries this way can mean less expenditures for patients. Perhaps, this the primary reason why out patient surgery centers or surgical centers have sprouted across the county akin to mushrooms. Not surprising because surgery centers, after all, are very profitable businesses, especially if they are able to lure leading doctors onto their side, ensure top notch quality of care, and operations are run smoothly. How do you you promote this kind of sustainability to ensure the profits and patients keep coming?
Communicate with Staff
It is rather easy to take hospital personnel for granted, which is rather ironic because they are the backbone that keeps the hospital operations running smoothly. An unhappy staff makes for a terrible surgery center environment, then in turn this trickles down to the patients as it affects the quality of care delivered. An unhappy patient looks elsewhere for better service. After all, even though they are referred to as patients, they are still clients and customers. If you want to keep them, one of the best things to prioritize is to keep the people who interact with them happy, fulfilled, and satisfied. Thus, frequent communication with the staff — from medical personnel, administrators, down to the humble custodian — is of great importance. An article in CNN said that doctors and nurses are patient ultimate resources when they are facing surgery.
Go the Extra Mile with Patients
Pleasing the patients and giving them what they want is just as important as treating the hospital personnel well. All the patients who go through the walls of the surgicenter experience a myriad of things. Although they are going through a less complicated surgery that doesn’t require lengthy hospital stay, that doesn’t mean they also don’t feel anxious, stressed, and afraid. Going the extramile to ensure that all patients feel your concern and support will go along way in making sure that you have more patients coming into your hospital doors. Of course, nothing is better than a word of mouth testimonial by a happy and satisfied patient who felt well taken care of at his or her lowest point. Continue to train everyone to “wow” the patients with their fantastic bed side manners. In an LAtimes article one of the nurse managers mentioned that the ethos to by with is know your patient.
Aim for Financial Solvency
Every organization has some form of debt that they need to settle. It is typical for any business to start with bank loans and credit. The point of financial is to ensure that your ambulatory center will always have the capacity to pay for debts incurred. At the same time, you must also have enough liquidity to pay for the staff’s salary, medical paraphernalia that constantly needs replenishment, and whatever future needs arises. It is this necessary to get a grip in handling all the financial statements if the surgery center wants to fulfill its long term goals. Growth and viability of the outpatient surgery center rests on how the money is handled and where it goes. Keeping track of all financial statements is a necessity for an ambulatory surgery center’s survival.
Keep an Eye on Data
Surgery center administrators have to familiarize themselves and have a firm handle on all national benchmarks. They also need to do that same for their center’s numbers. Both are necessary when doing negotiations and entering into contracts for the company. Some of the data they need to study and analyze include the following: total and unit costs, center utilization, doctor alignment, hospital re-admissions data, capacity management, machines used, and of course, quality and safety measures.
Time Management
There are many ways to promote efficiency in an ambulatory surgery center. One thing, however, is certain: your center can only be efficient when the physicians have good time management skills. You cannot allow surgeons to be perpetually late for their start times when doing surgery. The few minutes they are running late means money is wasted. Thus, always remind the physicians employed in your surgery center to always be punctual so as not to incur more heavy losses. Minutes continue to pile up if chronic lateness is tolerated. What is worse, allowing or giving leeway for this kind of behavior means it just piles up. Set the bar high in your surgery center.
Keep Costs Down
Do not forget to focus on overhead costs as it is quickly overlooked. This, however, has a large impact on the surgery center’s profitability. Thoroughly dissect expense categories from payroll, printing, supplies, telecom, and the like. Develop a good relationship with the medical representatives and ensure they understand how things are run so you can leverage their influence in helping you keep costs down on supplies you have to purchase.
