1. Don’t assume every investor has the same priority. According to Ms. Mazzitti, one of the biggest mistakes an administrator can make regarding investors is assuming they all have the same priorities. Consider that your investors’ priorities may include:
• Efficiency and reliable scheduling. Ms. Mazzitti says some of her investors are very busy with administrative duties at the hospital and use the ASC for its efficiency and punctuality. “They like to come here because they know they’re going to get out by 3:30 and be home by 4:30,” she says. “Those are the doctors where I look at the schedule, see it’s a 9:00 am start, and try to manipulate it so it becomes a 7:00 am start.”
• Unique allowances in your ASC. Ms. Mazzitti’s ASC is particularly attractive to some physicians because it allows residents, while other surgery centers may not. “We have residency contracts with Ohio State University and OhioHealth, and probably 75 percent of ASCs don’t allow residents because it slows things down,” she says. If an investor is interested in your center because you allow something another center does not, pay particular attention that feature.
• Value of the distribution. Many physician-investors will be most interested in your center’s bottom line. “Our urologists have a great deal of inpatient volume, and sometimes it would be much more convenient for them to do [an outpatient case] at the hospital,” she says. “However, they absolutely understand the value of the distribution, so they manipulate their schedule.” Don’t forget about the importance of financial health to your investors. Keep your center running efficiently, concentrate on boosting revenue and lowering costs and make those efforts known.
• Greater supply flexibility. Your center may be especially attractive to your investors because you do away with “red tape” regarding supply purchase. “At one of our big systems, you can’t get anything. You can’t even get a different suture because of the contract with the GPO,” she says. “Here, if a physician wants a new drug, they fill out a form, I evaluate it and look at the cost, and we make the decision the next day.” If your investors would otherwise have to wait six months to see a desired change, they will love your quick request processing.
2. Spend time with and around the physicians. If you want to get a true sense of what your investors care about, spend time getting to know them casually, Ms. Mazzitti says. For example, she says she eats her breakfast and lunch in the center’s break room. “Between every single case, the [doctors] are in the break room, shooting the breeze, so I can just let them talk and I don’t have to ask them anything,” she says.
If your physician-investors are involved in the strategic planning and operations of your center, you can use that planning time to talk. “We have a board meeting coming up in two weeks, and [the investors] are in here talking about who’s requesting units, so I’m learning a lot about the potential new investors from their peers and their partners,” she says.
Ms. Mazzitti adds that when she shadows other administrators, she often notices that administrators close their office doors when they’re working. She says a simple action like keeping your door open can send a message that you want to listen and invite feedback.
3. Take your time. Ms. Mazzitti has been with her ASC for five years, and she says it took three years to truly understand her physician-investors. “If I sat them down and said, ‘So tell me your priorities’, they’d say, ‘What are you talking about?'” she says. “So instead, we touch base every day.” Over time, you’ll start to notice patterns that inform your decisions about how to keep your investors happy. For example, if one investor consistently calls you late at night, he or she obviously values your extended availability. Take your time to really get to know your investors, and they will demonstrate their priorities without your interrogation, she says.
4. Act in the center’s best interest. If your center has a number of physician-investors, you may find yourself pleasing one investor and inadvertently angering another. At the end of the day, Ms. Mazzitti says your actions should always be in the best interest of the center. “Will I bend a rule? Will I try to accommodate? Yes — but not if in the long term, that decision is going to sacrifice anything regarding the center,” she says. “I fully comprehend that this is [the investors’] center, and when I say no, it’s always with the underlying theme that this is your center and your money.” She says if you make sound decisions regarding the financial health of the center, your physicians will respect those decisions once they see the results and may alter their priorities.
