How benchmarking can help ASCs save money and improve outcomes

At the 21st Annual Becker's ASC Conference in Chicago on Oct. 24, Michelle Punshon, administrative director for Coastal Orthopedics, located in Bradenton, Fla.; Sandra Jones, senior vice president and COO of ASD Management; and Trey Parsons, vice president of operations of ASD Management, discussed the financial and performance benefits benchmarking can have on ASCs.

"Benchmarking is an extremely useful performance improvement tool," Ms. Punshon explained. "You can take the information to see trends, determine where you're going up and down, and identify areas that need improvement."

Primary areas of focus for benchmarking include patient satisfaction survey results, infection rates and medical supply costs. ASCs can track these over time to identify trends within the organization and to see how performance compares to other organizations.

Both internal and external benchmarking should be used, but it is important to compare benchmarks with like services, because organizations with different specialties can have very different case volumes and complication rates.

"Benchmarking requires ASCs to continuously look for ways to improve. It is a constant cycle of planning, collecting data, analyzing, implementing change and checking results," Ms. Punshon explained.

There are also financial benefits to benchmarking. "There are dollars associated with infection if you have to treat someone for that, and the longer you take to turnover a case costs more money," Mr. Parsons said. High infection and slow turnovers are not just indicators of poor performance, but can be a source of financial drain.

Using benchmarks to break down processes, determine what needs to be improved and implementing new methods can significantly improve patient outcomes in problem areas.

"No ASC is perfect," Ms. Jones said. "If you take all of the little areas of things you have to do in an ASC and make a checklist, you'll find there are many measures you can possibly improve on, such as patient communication, sterilization processes and more."

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