A goal of the Affordable Care Act was to promote healthcare industry consolidation. As a result, the past five years have brought about this consolidation within many divisions of the healthcare field. We have seen countless hospital mergers and acquisitions. In theory, this creates more leverage and greater efficiency within the new, larger entity. Anesthesia services are no different. The anesthesia group sits in a unique position holding the ability to really drive positive value in what most facilities consider their profit center—the operating room. Consolidating anesthesia services from several groups to one within a hospital system can offer many advantages. Here are 3 major advantages of using one anesthesia group for all facilities within a hospital system.
1. Consistency: The ability to be consistent with service, technology, documentation, compliance performance, patient satisfaction, personnel and culture creates a huge efficiency for the system administration. The more predictable and transparent the service, the easier it is to change with the market. Our healthcare market is very dynamic, and every facility has to be able to not only keep up with new rules and regulations, but stay ahead of the curve and anticipate these changes with readiness. A well-managed anesthesia services company that can demonstrate consistent high level performance, efficiency and stipend reduction over time at many facilities is a major advantage to the hospital system’s bottom line.
2. The Right Model: It is not uncommon for a hospital system to have facilities performing at their fullest potentials while others routinely underperform. A consolidated anesthesia group can be the engine to implementing the right model at every facility. Every place has its own set of unique circumstances, but a successful model ensures patient safety, quick OR turnover times, improved compliance, and high patient satisfaction. The ability to replicate a successful model is a challenge the anesthesia services company is best suited to handle. The right model makes it easy to study measurable outcomes and predict future needs. Keeping in mind that even the perfect model is not invincible to the occasional staffing crisis, a singular anesthesia services group can provide system-wide coverage reliably. In many cases, anesthesia staff can be shared between facilities. With a large pool of readily credentialed providers at hand, this reduces the expense of being forced to hire costly locum tenens for temporary coverage.
3. Accountability: Hospital administrators will like this one the most! It is a well-known fact that incidents do happen, and adverse events will take place. However, wouldn’t it be nice to have the same person accountable for anesthesia across all facilities? The anesthesia company responsible for the hospital system will be accountable for their anesthesia providers. It is a tremendous relief to have accountability for performance that is easily measured and reportable. If one facility is underperforming, the hospital administration can have peace of mind knowing that the issues will be resolved before intervention becomes necessary.
An anesthesia management company that provides consistent services with the right model in place and embraces accountability can be a valuable asset for any hospital system. If you’re an administrator looking to streamline and simplify your anesthesia services, contact us for a no-obligation review.
