The Business of Surgery Attendees at the 2010 OR Business Management Conference in San Francisco May 12 to 14 got a snapshot of challenges facing ORs, ranging from the OR of the future to the effects of new health care law. Networking supplemented the presentations and gave attendees the opportunity to exchange ideas and…
How to charge for OR supplies is a frequent question OR business managers ask. In this column, Keith Siddel, MBA, an expert on health care business operations, responds to questions about supply packs and billing for endovascular procedures. The questions were posed by members of OR Manager's OR Business Management…
Purchasing managers are used to walking a tightrope between tough bargaining with suppliers and respect for the product preferences of physicians. Eventually, purchasing professionals, as well as physicians, realize these goals need not be inconsistent. The best value often is in the best product. At many ambulatory surgery centers (ASC),…
Pilot survey: ASC infection control lapses Infection control category Facilities with lapses* Examples of lapses Hand hygiene, use of gloves 12/62 (19%) 4 facilities had providers who failed to perform hand hygiene after contact with blood, body fluids, or nonintact skin. Injection and medication safety 19/67 (28%) 18 facilities used…
Postoperative mortality rates were twice as high (1.4% vs 0.73%) for patients having hip and knee replacements in hospitals that were the least specialized in orthopedic surgery compared to those that were the most specialized in a study published in the British Medical Journal. Patients at the most specialized hospitals…
Which surgical services are likely to grow and which are likely to migrate? What is coming in new technology? If you're adding or renovating ORs, how can you plan for an "OR chassis" that will adapt to changing needs? Fred Bentley, MPP, MPH In the keynote at the OR Business…
The tough economy has meant leaner budgets and fewer OR staff vacancies to fill. But OR leaders know they still face staffing challenges in the years ahead. Eventually, nurses who have been asking for more hours will start to retire. ORs need to keep the pipeline open for new candidates,…
Hospital finances rebounded in the first quarter of 2009, according to one source. Thomson Reuters data reported in August 2009 found total margins were up. About 30% of hospitals were in the red, which though still bad, was a big improvement from 50% in the third quarter of 2008. The…
Everything from washers to cars comes with a warranty, so why not health care? Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pennsylvania, introduced health care warranties with an innovative program called ProvenCare. Under the 90-day warranty, one cost covers the surgery and 90 days of follow-up treatment. Geisinger absorbs any additional costs…
The economy is hitting hospitals hard. For elective surgery, the picture is only starting to emerge. Hospitals' median total margins shrank to near zero in the third quarter of 2008—an unprecedented low, according to a Thomson Reuters analysis of data from 439 hospitals. This was primarily because of a drop…
