When orthopedic ASCs think about winning the next year, the conversation often turns to growth: another OR, a robot or new procedures coming to the outpatient setting.
But before investing in what’s next, many centers have money to recover in what they already do. Showing surgeons what their implants cost, cutting supplies that don’t affect patient care and using vendor spend as leverage can improve margins without a dollar of new capital.
Four orthopedic leaders shared where they’re finding margin and focusing investment dollars during Becker’s 32nd Annual: The Business and Operations of ASCs conference in Chicago.
Note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: If you were only able to meaningfully invest in one or two areas to win the next 12 months, what would those areas be?
J.C. Alvarez, MD. Medical Director and Orthopedic Surgeon of Bone and Joint Surgical Suites (Sebring, Fla.): Our ASC is a unique situation in that the only thing we need to do is get a spine surgeon. We’ve been pretty good about giving each surgeon the full day at the ASC. When I go there, nobody else shows up. Tuesday, our pain physician is there. Wednesday, I’m there. Thursday, our sports surgeon is there in the morning and our pain physician is there in the afternoon, and Friday, I’m there. So there’s really three of us driving all the volume. Right now, Monday is open. So before we build out OR space, our goal is to get a spine surgeon and fill in that gap we have now.
Lori Callahan, MBA, CASC. Regional ASC Director at OrthoIllinois (Rockford, Ill.): AI is really big. I’m noticing a big difference. We’re able to take all that data we have and migrate that through, and actually leverage contracts based on per location and per specialty, and we started shifting some of those cases around. So definitely, for the next 12 months, AI. Really hone in, look at your data, look at what you’re doing really well and look at areas that you can improve.
Nyleen Flores. Administrator and COO of Lake Oconee Orthopedics (Greensboro, Ga.): Reevaluate what you are currently doing, because two years ago, everybody was excited to bring in the shoulders and to bring in ankles and to bring in all those types of procedures into the ASC. So reevaluate, see if those cases are really making you money, and make sure you’re renegotiating everything so that you’re getting maximized profit for anything that you’re doing.
Shobhit Minhas, MD. Orthopedic Hand Surgeon at Fox Valley Orthopedics (Geneva, Ill.): What we focus on is surgeon throughput: increasing as many cases as we can with the surgeons that we have. Some of the things that are low-hanging fruit are getting first-case starts on time, trying to cut down on turnover and trying to put the same staff team with each surgeon so it’s a smooth process every single time. We also look at the cases all the surgeons do to see if it would make sense for some surgeons to change their block time.
In a single-specialty orthopedic practice, specialties such as hand surgery or foot and ankle have a lot of urgent cases that are added on, so it made more sense to have those surgeons do their block time toward the end of the week and to have more predictable cases like joints first. It’s little things like that: going through and seeing how you can do as many cases as you can with the team that you have.
At the Becker’s 32nd Annual Meeting: The Business and Operations of ASCs, taking place October 29-31 in Chicago, ASC leaders, surgeons and healthcare executives will explore strategies to drive growth, enhance operational performance, navigate reimbursement challenges and prepare for the future of ambulatory surgery. Apply for complimentary registration now.
