Collaborate with surgeons and vendors to control high-end supply costs
OR Business Performance is a series intended to help OR managers and directors improve the success of their business. Surgical supplies are a major component of OR expenses. In the July issue of OR Manager, we showed how controlling spending on low- and mid-priced supplies can reduce overall costs.…
Diligence in coding and charge capture will help prevent revenue loss
With the evolving nature of health care regulations, accurately capturing revenue can be a challenging process for all hospitals. At the OR Business Managers Workshop in April, key concepts about hospital billing, coding, and reimbursement were clarified by revenue expert Keith Siddel, JD, MBA, an attorney with HBL Concepts LLC,…
Preoperative practices overhauled after surgical checklist failure
Use of the World Health Organization’s surgical safety checklist has reduced surgical complications and mortality, but a narrow escape after a checklist failure at an Italian hospital suggests that more vigilant efforts are needed to avoid errors. In August 2012, an 81-year-old patient with vascular dementia was brought to the…
Follow protocols when using medications from compounding pharmacies
Compounding pharmacies have long been valued for their ability to tailor prescription drugs for specific patients. More recently, they have helped conserve scarce drugs by redistributing them from larger to smaller single-use vials. For an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) that is not associated with a hospital and therefore has no…
ASC executives to meet with lawmakers
The Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA) annually asks members to participate in a “fly-in” to meet with members of Congress to raise awareness about the implications of health care policies. As ASCA vice president of government relations Steve Miller notes, there is nothing like hearing directly from a constituent to…
New staffing structure builds on success of specialty team model
Less than a year after adopting a “college structure” model akin to that of specialty teams, the UF & Shands Academic Health Center in Gainesville, Florida, is close to achieving a goal of 100% on-time starts. “We track first-case start times, and a report goes out every morning, so we’ll…
Focus shifts to device fragments, small miscellaneous items in RSIs
Though retained surgical items (RSIs) cases are rare, they do happen, and they take a heavy toll throughout the system in terms of steep fines, malpractice claims, and compromised patient safety. Estimates of RSIs range from 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 7,000 procedures. And a 2003 study by the…
Editorial
Hospitalizations involving a lost sponge or instrument cost more than $60,000 on average, and related malpractice suits can cost hospitals between $100,000 and $200,000 per case, according to a March 8 USA Today article on retained surgical items (RSIs). “For many hospitals, lost sponges and other surgical items aren’t considered…
Free Daily News
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