OR Business
Contract management is a challenging but critical component of cost control
Loopholes in supply contracts can wreak havoc with a supply budget, but attention to detail and proper terminology can help OR managers take charge instead of being charged unnecessary fees. “Not managing your agreement will cost you 12% to 25% of the spend or 100% of any savings achieved,” Girard…
Anticipate & educate to navigate murky healthcare reform waters
Anxiety over changes in healthcare delivery and payment systems has permeated hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). Administrators are concerned about how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and other initiatives will hit the organization’s bottom line. Increasingly, perioperative services leaders are being drawn into discussions in these areas. “The OR…
Editorial
Until I heard Keith Siddel, PhDc, JD, MBA, CHC, speak at our OR Business Management Conference in February, I didn’t fully realize how much ICD-10 coding could disrupt billing and payment for services. Siddel, an attorney and healthcare finance expert based in Creede, Colorado, explained why providers should have been…
Smart and simple process changes help cut case times and costs
Most perioperative leaders are concerned about turnover time. And rightly so—lengthy turnovers squander expensive OR minutes. The typical surgery department, however, gives less attention to case time. Many OR directors view case time as a lower priority that is largely out of their control. This is a mistake. Prolonged case…
Conference takes OR leaders and business managers to the next level
High-quality presentations, a high level of enthusiasm, and the highest-ever attendance were the hallmarks of the OR Business Management Conference that took place February 11-13 in New Orleans. Nearly 300 attendees—more than triple the number who attended the workshop in 2013—gathered to learn from experts in the healthcare industry. Tips…
Formula for successful cost control includes hard data plus surgeon champion
With decreasing Medicare reimbursements and increasing pressure to reduce costs, OR leaders everywhere are looking for creative solutions to balance their budgets. At Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (TJUH) in Philadelphia, standardizing surgical mesh looked like a way to save a bundle, and indeed a $1.5 million savings over a 3-year…
Firm policies and the right procedures tip the cost-benefit balance toward flip rooms
We spoke recently with surgery department leaders at an academic medical center in the Midwest. One of their biggest concerns was a challenge faced by many ORs today: “Flip rooms are just killing us.” Most surgeons prefer the efficiency and revenue potential of a flip room schedule. But for hospitals,…
Figure out future needs and goals before breaking ground on your new facility
Less than 2 years after the New England Baptist Outpatient Care Center was imagined, its doors opened in September 2013. The sparkling new ambulatory surgery center (ASC) in the Boston suburb of Dedham, Massachusetts, isn’t far from the country’s oldest timber-framed house, the Fairbanks House, built in 1637—long before building…
Changes in nurses' pay structure solve staffing and scheduling problems
Many OR directors struggle with designing effective nurse compensation systems. The ideal system would achieve department goals while maintaining nurse satisfaction. Unfortunately, a compensation plan that links these 2 objectives is often elusive. In 2012, OR leadership at a small Pennsylvania hospital developed a compensation system that effectively aligns nursing…
Decisions, decisions: Should you outsource coding to comply with ICD-10?
The primary function of an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) is simple and easily described: to perform surgery for which patients can be discharged within 24 hours, to do this efficiently, safely, and cost effectively, and to collect adequate, timely payment. The path to achieving these results is not so simple.…
Free Daily News
- Study: ERAS protocol reduces opioid use after cardiac surgery
- Study: Prehabilitation reduces surgical complications, speeds recovery
- Commentary: Studies show how surgeon decisions follow the money
- Proposed HIPAA updates would improve cybersecurity, increase costs for healthcare providers
- Study: EMR data can enhance hand hygiene compliance, infection prevention
- Study: Machine learning model improves perioperative pain assessment
- Call for improved suicide risk screening in ASCs aims to strengthen safety protocols
- Study: Perioperative pregabalin reduces risk of kidney decline compared to gabapentin
- Medical school diversity declines after Supreme Court ruling
- Surgeons risk losing ground as transcatheter tricuspid valve interventions rise