The Business of Surgery Negotiating with orthopedic vendors can be frustrating as OR leaders strive to balance competing agendas among companies, surgeons, and the hospital. Kimberley Murray, MS, RN, CNOR, administrator for the orthopedic and spine service line at St. Joseph’s Hospital (SJH) in Syracuse, New York, reduced frustration by adopting a program that…
Is your OR’s clinical documentation as specific as it needs to be? That’s the key question perioperative directors and managers need to ask as their organizations gear up for ICD-10. The big date is October 1, 2013. Starting then, all claims have to be submitted using the ICD-10 coding sets.…
A column on managing the OR revenue cycle. How to charge for OR time and services is a frequent source of questions from OR directors and business managers. In this column, Keith Siddel, MBA, answers questions about charging posed by members of the OR Business Management Listserv. Siddel is CEO…
How do we charge for invasive procedures performed at the bedside? What's the correct way to bill for patients who stay in the recovery room because of a lack of beds in the ICU? In this column, Keith Siddel, MBA, an expert on health care business operations, responds to questions…
A Big 5 report keeps perioperative leaders at the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City abreast of leading financial metrics for the 31-OR department (illustration, p 9). The report displays financial variances for the 5 surgical supply-focused expense areas: medical-surgical supplies instrumentation implants wound closure supplies drug supplies. "These…
Is your value analysis process as strong as it could be? Value analysis is a key link in building a supply chain strong enough to stand up to today's cost management challenges. Check your process against these success factors, outlined by Thomas Skorup, MBA, FACHE, vice president of the Applied…
Technology is starting to take its place as a supplement to manual counts in the effort to prevent retained surgical items (RSIs). RSIs persist despite the emphasis many ORs have placed on tightening their manual counting methods. Recent reports from California are an example of the challenge ORs are up…
Which is more expensive—a robotic handle or a shunt valve? How much does hemostatic matrix cost? Thanks to an innovative game modeled after "The Price is Right," staff at the University of New Mexico Hospital (UNM), Albuquerque, know the answers: The shunt valve is more expensive than the robotic handle…
Profile of the typical OR nurse leader The typical leader of a hospital OR in the OR Manager Salary/Career Survey: earns an average salary of $127,000 for an administrative director, $104,000 for a director, and $89,000 for a nurse manager received a raise of 3.5% holds the title of director…
Robotic surgery has become part of the OR landscape, partly driven by marketing, as competing hospitals purchase robots and advertise them to consumers eager for the latest technology. "It's definitely a consumer-driven health care offering," says Lynda Petty, RN, director of perioperative education, policy, and process improvement at The Ohio…
