Filling in holes involves reaching out to physicians and their offices, Mr. Brown says. “If you don’t ask you don’t get, and if you don’t inform, you don’t know,” he says. “We’re capturing those cases instead of leaving them to the hospital.” He specifies what staff should do in each instance.
Two weeks in advance
1. Fill the hole with more physicians. Contact physicians who do not normally come in at that time and ask them if they want the opening. This involves contacting their offices in several ways, including e-mails, blast faxes and telephone calls. ASC staff would talk to office staff while the ASC administrator may be able to call the physicians directly. “It takes a few different forms of communication to make sure your message gets through,” Mr. Brown says.
2. Move existing physicians into the hole. Eliminate the hole by moving back physicians who start earlier or moving up physicians who start later. This will condense the schedule and create a shorter day.
One week in advance
1. Follow up on calls. Call back physicians who have not responded to your messages to see if existing holes could still be filled.
2. Stagger staff schedules. If the hole cannot be filled, finalize schedules of part-time staff, sending home morning staff early and starting afternoon staff later.
Addressing vacations and holidays
1. Vacations. See if physicians can perform their missed cases at the ASC before their vacation starts. Otherwise, the cases may go to the hospital.
2. Holidays. If a holiday falls on the surgeons’ scheduled day, see if they can do their surgeries for that week on another day. For example, both Christmas and New Year fall on a Friday this year.
Learn more about Meridian Surgical Partners.
Read more from the team at Meridian Surgical Partners:
–6 Best Practices for Collecting Payments From Patients
–How Quality Reporting and Information Technology Requirements Will Impact ASCs
