1. Scott James, administrator for Yakima (Wash.) Ambulatory Surgical Center:
At my facility, I was forced to get more cases from my existing owners because of the lack of available surgeons in the community. We have developed ways of acknowledging our owners and non-owners. Our physician locker room has fresh coffee, fresh fruit, snacks and their favorite reading material available to them every morning. We also go out of our way to find out certain “little things” about each physician. For example, I have a general surgeon who loves Cheetos, so we make sure every Thursday there are Cheetos in the locker room.
Another great example: I have an OBGYN that I have been trying to get to use our facility and it just seemed to be a struggle. We found out from some office staff that he loves Cherry Dum Dums. I finally got him to schedule with us and in the locker room we placed a huge bowl of Cherry Dum Dums. After his surgery he walked by my office with a Dum Dum in his mouth and in his hand. We could do no wrong. Since then he has became a consistent monthly user.
Recruitment has been difficult. We have a small pool of surgeons to choose from. What we try to do is get physicians to use us once to get their feet wet. Once their feet are wet, we usually can retain them and eventually invite them to be owners. Also you need to have “skin in the game.” A physician-owner needs to have his investment from his own pocket and not through “group ownership.” This investment needs to be significant enough to make him feel like he has a true vested interest. At our facility we had a general surgery group own as a group. Of the five surgeons, two of them actively used the facility. We proposed to buy out the group and have them buy back individually. By doing this, two of the general surgeons bought back in and I have seen as much as a 140 percent increase in their cases they bring to the facility.
(As for recruiting physicians to buy into the ASC), they need to know that their opinion truly counts and that they will always be heard. The return is the easy part.
2. Di Sweet, administrator for Brookside Surgery Center in Battle Creek, Mich.:
Persistence is a must! Phone calls don’t work as well as face-to-face time. I also involve my current partners. We’ll first start out with a dinner meeting between a few current partners and the physician(s) we are attempting to recruit. I try to then determine how interested they may be in becoming an owner. Once the background work is completed, I’ll share the information with my management company and together develop a plan of attack so to speak.
Follow-up, face-to-face time, and contact with their practice administrator works the best.
3. Patty Burke, business office manager for Miracle Hills Surgery Center in Omaha, Neb.
We continue to call them, stop by their offices with something, have our owners call them to discuss our center and have them come for a tour and explain our center.
