The Business of Surgery In the past few months, the Joint Commission has implemented a new process for accreditation surveys and changed the wording and interpretation of some standards, particularly infection control. At the 2018 OR Manager Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, in September, John R. Rosing, MHA, FACHE, executive vice president and principal of…
A greater focus on cost cutting and improving quality of care, a rise in outpatient procedures, and increased demand for cost and quality transparency were among the major healthcare trends projected for 2018. It’s safe to say these will continue to dominate in 2019 and beyond. A year ago, all…
Multiple requests for new equipment and technology—usually from surgeons but also sometimes from staff—are not uncommon. As part of their due diligence, OR leaders must determine whether the return on investment (ROI) justifies the purchase. Doing ROI calculations systematically—and involving key stakeholders—can help ensure that the organization makes the best…
A common strategy for managing OR utilization is block scheduling: Assigning surgical time to individual surgeons or surgeon groups based on their volume. But what sounds like a simple process is often complicated by the potential for dissatisfaction and reduced utilization. Yet done effectively, block scheduling can significantly boost the…
Polls leading up to the midterm elections put healthcare as the top issue of concern among likely voters, with gun policy, Supreme Court nominees, the economy and jobs, and education right behind it. In a year fraught with an ever-widening chasm along party lines, there were distinctly different priorities among…
Interest in the OR Business Management Conference has grown steadily in tandem with the number of proposals submitted each year. More than 400 individuals attended the conference in 2018, and they left with tools and strategies to implement in a variety of clinical settings upon their return. Feedback from attendees…
Long gone are the days when employer-based health insurance covered most, if not all, of patients’ healthcare bills. Insurance companies and employers expect individuals to pay a larger chunk of healthcare costs themselves. The 2018 benchmark Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) Employer Health Benefits Survey found that “a quarter (26%) of…
Many healthcare organizations have adopted Lean processes to save money, improve workflow, and reduce waste. But it’s not just process change that drives success. It’s the individuals—especially those on the front lines—who work together to identify problems and solutions. It’s also ongoing efforts to sustain changes once they have been…
Mandatory implementation of the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgery Survey (OAS CAHPS) originally scheduled for 2018 has been delayed, but that does not mean it should be ignored, say ambulatory surgery center (ASC) leaders. The earliest projected date when the survey could become mandatory…
According to a 2016 McKesson report, payers expect value-based reimbursement, including bundled payments, to grow from a third of their business to a majority of it in 5 years. And as noted in Part 1 of this two-part series (OR Manager, September 2018, 1, 13-17), bundles are advancing on multiple…
