IT IQ

IT IQ

The Role of IT in Today’s ASC

by Glen R. Pridgen

When I speak with physicians and administrators about specific information technology (IT) solutions, I start with this statement: “I am here to discuss increasing user satisfaction while maximizing profit.” I define a user as every person that walks through the doors of your facility. Whether a physician partner, business office or clinical employee, patient or patient family member, all of them have an impact on the bottom line of your facility. If you believe that your IT solution starts and stops with your computers, efficiency and money are being left on the table.

Your facility is a real business with standard- issue components. Marketing, sales, manufacturing and delivery of product, customer relations, and collections all come into play. I often refer to the scheduling of a surgery as “placing an order.” This helps to frame proposed solutions within the rules of a “normal” business, which your facility should be. Manufacturing and delivery of “product” (outpatient surgery) must be done as efficiently and inexpensively as possible without compromising quality. If you think that sounds like a strategy for Toys “R” Us or Stryker, you are correct. It is, in fact, no different at the strategic level.

Before we can begin to discuss customer relations, you must first define your customer. When I ask this question of staff, they are usually surprised when told that all of their answers are correct. Your customers are patients, patients’ families, physicians and the employee at physicians’ offices who refers patients to your facility. From an IT perspective, add the employees of your facility as well. Now that you know who the customers are, you can properly devise a customer relations policy that includes them all.

When you put your implementation team together, it is crucial that you include a real technology professional. For your technology solution to truly represent your business goals, your technology professional should be included in the decision-making process.

Technology solution planning and implementation typically takes 10 to 15 weeks for a new facility, following the selection of the implementation team itself, which may take several months or more. Each facility has its own set of requirements and requires a solution customized to its specific specialties and responsibilities. The most important thing to remember is that your facility is neither a physician’s practice nor an acute-care hospital, so select a software application designed specifically for your unique ambulatory surgery center (ASC) environment.

There are a small number of true ASC management software packages on the market today that warrant serious consideration. After you select the one with which you are most comfortable, design your processes, forms and daily operation so they are properly aligned with the workflow provided for in that software. No facility management system is a home run, so to maximize efficiency you must work within the system’s capabilities.

Only use paper when necessary. Other than electronic medical records, there are other ways to save time and space using technology. Get your faxes electronically. There are several companies that allow you to accept faxes via e-mail for little or no monthly fee. This is especially helpful to schedulers who receive faxes at all times of the day. The last thing you want is for a scheduler at a physician’s office to fax the “order” to a competitor’s facility because your fax machine is busy. I also recommend having the ability for the fax to be received by multiple e-mail addresses, so that if the scheduler is out for the day, the back-up gets the fax. I usually have the receptionist receive the fax as well, so he or she can call the office that faxed the order to confirm receipt right away. This adds an appreciated customer-relations touch.

Another efficient example of paper reduction is the use of digital patient-satisfaction surveys. Most patient satisfaction surveys can be filled out electronically and all are received by management electronically. Paper surveys are less viable than ever. The return rate for online surveys is higher than you might expect. At one facility, 10 percent more surveys were received after the switch to digital surveys. When a negative survey is returned, it is immediately forwarded via e-mail to management. Our rule is a same-day call to the patient to discuss issues. This can quickly turn a bad experience into a positive referral.

Another area where we can have an impact on the ASC’s bottom line by using technology is in turning operating rooms (ORs) over as efficiently as possible. Your facility management system should keep track of actual OR utilization and recommend changes if necessary. By not reserving more time than necessary for procedures, you can reclaim valuable OR time.

You can further enhance productivity by properly utilizing the inventory management capabilities within your facility management system, reducing the time it takes to manually adjust inventory levels. With a wireless laptop and a bar code scanner, you can keep real-time track of inventory, alleviating the need to manually check in or out used and unused inventory. Also, if configured properly, your facility management system will automatically generate orders based on predetermined par levels. This can free up a tech to help turn the OR over more quickly.

Ensuring compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is more critical now than it was a year ago, and will be even more important as time goes by. Patients are more aware of their newfound rights and are more likely to complain if they feel these rights are not being recognized and protected. Writing a paragraph about HIPAA compliance is like trying to get through the minute waltz in 15 seconds, so we will focus on the three areas where many facilities are left exposed.

First, no patient should be able to see a computer screen. If you look at patient traffic through your facility, you will recognize that this requirement is, on its face, near impossible to adhere to. Most facilities have at least one area where normal patient traffic will leave computer screens exposed. For these areas, all you need to do is add a security screen that blurs information when seen at an angle or from more than three feet away. This simple solution saves you from having to move or eliminate these workstations to maintain HIPAA compliance.

Second, if your facility has access to the Internet, it must have a firewall in place to protect the network. Although this requirement may seem straightforward, firewalls are often not installed or not configured properly. A properly configured firewall is the only way your facility can realize the efficiencies that access to the Internet provides while keeping patient information private.

Third, if your facility has a wireless network, it must be protected by a “WEP” key. For simplicity’s sake, a WEP key is a password. Configured properly, your wireless network will require this password before it will allow a computer to connect to the network. A properly configured wireless network will increase the efficiency of your facility without compromising HIPAA compliance.

Have a disaster recovery plan and prove that it works. What would happen if, tomorrow morning, you arrived to find that your facility had lost all of the information stored on its computers? Would your business survive? If I came to you the next day and said that I could get all of your information back for $20,000, would you write me a check? I would bet you would. If I had come to you the day before and told you that, for the same $20,000, I will protect you from losing all of your information, would you have written me a check? I am willing to bet that you would not. It is human nature to believe that bad things happen to other people, but it is reality that chooses us to be the other person every now and then. We should not let human nature keep us from being prepared.

Your disaster-recovery plan should include virus protection, onsite and offsite back-up, and verification that the plan works. Of course, all computers and servers should be protected by antivirus software. This software should update itself daily and have its auto-protect feature activated. You should back up all computers and servers to tape nightly. I usually have the administrator rotate the tapes every morning and take the tape home, thereby adding another layer of protection. In the words of a great president, “Trust but verify!” There is only way to prove a backup plan works — to break it and fix it at regular intervals. Your backup plan may cost you money to implement, but it can save you everything if implemented properly.

As you see, the role of IT in today’s ASC goes far beyond your computers. If your technology strategy is representative of your business strategy, your facility will be more efficient, more profitable and a better experience for your customers.