HOW EFFECTIVE PARTNERSHIPS SUPPORT EXCEPTIONAL, COST-EFFECTIVE HEALTHCARE #3: Effective partnerships enable superior patient care SURGICAL SOLUTIONS SERVICES AT A GLANCE Contracting select OR services does not just affect costs, case volume, and satisfaction; it can improve overall sup- To help your facility improve financial/operational ply chain management and enhance a health system’s performance and physician satisfaction with quality of care. Consider the example of surgeon prefer- better OR management and greater efficiency, ence cards. Although they tacitly represent the supplies Surgical Solutions’ customized programs include: a surgeon needs in a case, many surgeons are unaware of what is on their own cards. In one survey, more than 80% of surgeons and 70% of nurses expressed concern Expert handling of scopes and instrumentation 24 with preference card management. by highly experienced team members Discrepancies have a tangible effect on patient out- Our CRCST technicians are on hand for every comes. An analysis at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital case. They’re accountable for: investigated how preference cards influence medication Pre-, intra-, and post-procedure technical 25 safety. Cards listed an average of five medications, but support over 85% of the medications did not have any instruc- SPD, decontamination, prep and pack tions on dosing or preparation. More than 75% of cards used brand and generic names interchangeably, and in some cases the names did not match. The authors Repair maintenance management concluded that preference cards were a notable risk for medication errors in the OR. Surgical Solutions assumes the logistical pro- Broader supply chain issues delay care, prolong patients’ cess and cost of: time under anesthesia, and increase complication rates Instrument and scope repairs and dispos- when surgeons operate with the wrong tools. A 2018 ables for lap aroscopic procedures (e.g, study found that 67% of providers had moments when trocars, cannulas, etc.) the right supplies were not on hand during a procedure, Maintaining your contractual requirements 40% had canceled cases, and over 25% had patients with for rebates through trace sales reporting 26 an adverse outcome because of the supply chain. Contract partners cannot resolve every problem. In fact, Access to capital a poorly planned outsourcing strategy may create more problems than it solves because of a lack of standardiza- Deliver the instrumentation and equipment tion and diffusion of responsibility. Lack of standardiza- to support all scope procedures in the OR tion and optimized workflows creates an environment and endo suites of uncertainty, often resulting in delays and patient and Acquire physician-preferred disposables and staff dissatisfaction, according to Anthony Dawson, equipment RN, MSN, Chief Clinical Officer and Chief Operating Officer at Surgical Solutions, LLC, in Chicago, Illinois. All services and products by Surgical Solutions Conversely, a terrific contract partner can streamline are charged on a price-per-case basis, trans- processes and drive efficiency and throughput gains for forming your fixed costs into variable costs. a hospital or system. “Demographic and technological changes present Click here oppor tunities, but health systems can lack the bandwidth for a free on-site assessment to see to take advantage of them,” says Dawson. “Contract how efficient your facility can really be. 5