1. Formalize a process and procedure. Charging physicians, administrators and staff with clear responsibilities and creating an efficient workflow can help ease the challenge of meeting the accreditation standard of patient notifications. At Alliance, the process of notifying the patient prior to the day of surgery starts at the physicians’ offices.
“Our process is headed at each physician’s office,” Mr. Schaff says. “Physicians understand they need to make the initial contact with the patient by mailing them the information. And then we call the patients as a follow-up to go over the information verbally and make sure they understand what they received. Generally, the scheduling office staff makes the phone calls.”
2. Strategize contact with patients based on a schedule. Mr. Schaff says mailing patients a packet of information that includes all pertinent information is a simple solution to meeting the standard of written notification prior to the day of surgery, but the challenge lies in contacting patients in a way that is time-efficient, as procedures in a GI-driven ASCs typically are scheduled closer to the day of the initial visit with the referring physician. He suggests closely monitoring the schedule of procedures to time out when patient contact should be established.
“Our ASC sends out all the patient information in the mail to meet the written portion of the accreditation standard and then calls them to ensure they got it and understand it before they come in for surgery,” he says. “However, in the case of outpatient plastics procedures, you may have more time to be in contact with patients, but with endoscopies you don’t have much time so you have to watch your schedule very closely.”
3. Level with physicians. ASCs should open the channels of communication with physicians who have privileges to perform surgeries at their facilities and discuss with them the importance of establishing communication with patients about their rights and responsibilities, advance directives and facility information. Accrediting bodies hold the ASCs accountable for the established contact with patients before surgery centers, even though physicians have the power to establish that connection. Mr. Schaff says that although it’s not a difficult challenge for referring physicians, asking them to do extra work that won’t necessarily add any more value to their practice may be met with resistance.
4. Reduce the number of open endoscopies. Alliance has reduced its number of open endoscopies to better keep in line with the requirement of notifying patients of pertinent information prior to the day of surgery. Mr. Schaff says his referring physicians either never perform open endoscopies, meaning the physician prefers to see the patient before the procedure, or physicians will do open endoscopies and patients go straight to ASCs for endoscopies without seeing the referring physicians prior to the procedure.
“Referring physicians who don’t do open endoscopies aren’t an issue because they’ll see the patients before the procedure and they can use that time to speak to them about the information they need to know prior to the day of surgery,” Mr. Schaff says. “In the case of physicians performing open endoscopies, there would need to be a screening tool in place to ensure all the patient have been contacted prior to the surgery.
Learn more about Alliance Endoscopy Center.
