6 ASCs with effective, efficient scheduling strategies

Here are six ambulatory surgery centers with effective scheduling strategies that increase efficiency.

If you would like to recommend another surgery center for this list, contact Anuja Vaidya at avaidya@beckershealthcare.com.

Dupage Medical Group Surgical Center (Naperville, Ill.). The surgery center includes 100 total employees and two staff schedulers. According to Dawn Dormitorio, RN, BS, CNOR, surgery center director, the scheduling department at the ASC has developed a detailed daily checklist used to guide the ASC schedulers throughout the day, and the expectation is that every item on the checklist be met so the following surgery day runs smoothly.

"The ASC scheduling department developed and maintains an [operating room] availability calendar on the company website. This calendar allows surgeon's office to view currently available OR time for following 6-month period and coordinate it with their own schedules prior to calling the ASC scheduling department to request OR space," says Ms. Dormitorio. "Lastly, as the need for OR availability outside of normal block allocations increased, the scheduling department developed a method of flagging and monitoring each surgery day with a waiting list thereby allowing released OR time to be fully utilized."

Other scheduling strategies at the ASC include the following elements: monthly surgical center staff meetings, good working relationships between ASC scheduling staff and surgeon staff, effective policies and protocols regarding block time utilization as well as effective protocols regarding schedule confirmation, says Ms. Dormitorio.

The surgery center is a part of DuPage Medical Group, and procedures at the center are performed by the DMG Surgery Team. The team provides care in a wide array of specialties and also performs minimally invasive techniques, such as laparoscopic and robotic surgery.

DISC Sports and Spine Center (Marina del Rey, Calif.). DISC Sports and Spine Center has two ambulatory surgery centers, which have approximately 45 to 50 per diem and fulltime staff members. The two centers perform spine, orthopedics and pain management procedures, and also have 23-hour stay capabilities. "We have a pretty large team of per diem nurses that can handle 23-hour stays," says DISC COO Karen Reiter. "We financially incentivize them to take on that shift."

The two ASCs do utilize flex time, but not on a frequent basis. "We do flex hours when things are quiet, but staff becomes worn down quickly if you flex them too frequently," says Ms. Reiter. "We will round out shifts with quality studies, clean-up and patient calls. We discuss flex hours with staff and allow them to pick up extra work another time." In addition to flex hours, the ASCs have access to per diem RNs that are willing to pick up shorter shifts to fill in when needed. Nurses from two nearby large academic medical centers are willing to pick up a few extra hours going to or coming from their full-time jobs.

The ASC staff members also focus on building strong ties with the physician office schedulers to ensure cases are scheduled effectively. "We are fortunate that the medical group that owns the ASC is very close by. We cultivate our relationship with their surgery schedulers continually," says Ms. Reiter. "If you can gain that trust and they know what your challenges are, they are easy to work with."
 
Oak Brook (Ill.) Medical Management. The company manages three ASCs, which include a total of 14 operating rooms. "For many years we've kept a floating pool of nurses, techs and administrative personnel that travel to each center as needed," says Alfonso del Granado, compliance officer at Oak Brook Medical Management and administrator of Ashton Center for Day Surgery. "This strategy allows us to maintain smaller numbers of full-time employees, which combined with our flex or part-time team members has kept our use of agencies to practically nothing. It also helps us to deal with the high variability of case-loads that ASCs experience."

However, the downside is that scheduling takes more work, according to Mr. del Granado, because while each center schedules its cases independently, they work together under the coordination of an OR director, and the director "leases" staff to each center as needed.

"The extra bit of hard work is worth it, though, as we have been able to run very lean while performing a high volume of complex cases without compromising quality of care," he says.

The management company's three ASCs are the 14,000-square-foot Aiden Center for Day Surgery in Addison, Ill.; the 15,000-square-foot Oak Brook Surgical Centre; and the 15,000-square-foot Ashton Center for Day Surgery. Physicians across the three centers provide care in numerous specialties, including gastroenterology, gynecology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, pain management, plastic surgery, podiatry and urology.

More Articles on ASCs:

Dr. Daniel Eglinton Opens Asheville Biologics and Orthopedics
Who's Buying? 5 Statistics on ASC Acquisitions in 2010 vs. 2013
7 Things for ASC Leaders to Know for Thursday


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