Raghu Reddy, chief administrative officer of Southfield, Mich.-based MiOrtho Surgery Center and a member of the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association’s education and quality committees, joined Becker’s to discuss the key performance indicators his ASC uses to track efficiency, quality and growth.
Editor’s note: This interview was lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: How do you measure operational success at your center?
Raghu Reddy: We have established key criteria and performance indicators to measure our operational success in all areas of our ASC. This can be an exhaustive list; we focus on some of the most crucial industry-benchmarked indicators below:
1. Financial and operational performance
- Case volume and growth: number of cases per month/quarter compared to prior years.
- Block time utilization: percent of scheduled OR time that is actually used. We have a utilization committee that meets monthly to review this, and the minutes are distributed to the leadership and surgeons.
- On-time starts and turnover times: efficiency in moving from case to case.
- Supply cost per case: especially implants and high-cost disposables.
- Operating margin/EBITDA: overall profitability.
- Revenue cycle metrics:
- Days in accounts receivable
- Clean claim rate/denial rate
- Net collection rate
- AR aging over 90 days
- Time to bill
2. Quality and patient safety
- Infection rates and adverse events: reportable incidents and near misses.
- Unplanned admissions /transfers to hospital: lower is better.
- Reoperation/return-to-OR rates.
- Medication errors/safety events.
3. Patient experience
- Patient satisfaction scores (often via Press Ganey, HCAHPS or custom surveys).
- Likelihood to recommend/net promoter score.
- Wait times and overall experience feedback.
4. Staff and physician engagement
- Staff retention and turnover rates: particularly among nurses and techs.
- Staff satisfaction/engagement surveys: including culture of safety surveys.
- Physician satisfaction: especially around scheduling, staffing support and supply availability.
5. Strategic growth and market position
- Case mix optimization: shifting to higher-value or higher-margin specialties where appropriate.
- New surgeon recruitment and retention.
- Technology adoption: adding capabilities (robotics, advanced imaging, EMR enhancements).
- Payer contracts/managed care penetration: ability to negotiate favorable rates.
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