As a surgeon founded and led organization, we understand the intricacies in running a successful acute care surgery program. We’ve adopted the slogan “The Smarter Way to Operate” encompassing the optimization of processes, improving efficiencies, reducing costs, and increasing revenue for our hospital partners. The surgicalist model is the wave of the future in elevating the standard of care for emergent and urgent surgery. Once established, the impact naturally influences optimal performance in other areas of the hospital. We call this the smarter effect.
Each of our surgicalists embrace stewardship, a core value at The Surgicalist Group. They consider themselves stewards, extensions of our hospital partners, making a point to be available 24/7. As change agents, they are committed to elevating the standard of care, improving patient experience, throughput, and quality. Together with department leaders, they coordinate and collaborate on innovative solutions to improve care, streamlining workflows in the ED, OR, inpatient unit, and discharge.
At the core, ED-to-OR efficiency is one of the first noticeable improvements once our surgicalist model is established, igniting the other elements of the smarter effect – OR optimization, surgical volumes, cost savings, quality metrics, outcome measures, and revenue. Working closely with the OR, our surgicalists utilize gaps in OR schedules and are proficient with their time in the OR. The more patients surgicalists treat in the OR, the more refined their surgical skills become. Patients recover faster and fewer surgical complications occur.
Time saved for patients waiting in the ED and in the OR directly correlates with cost savings. The faster they get to the OR, to sooner they begin their recovery process, and are likely to have a shorter length of stay. Shorter lengths of stay also directly correlate to a reduction in hospital acquired conditions. This opens bed space in the ER and inpatient unit for additional volume.
Surgical volumes increase as a part of the smarter effect. Elective practice surgeons are can focus on building their elective case volume while surgicalists cover the emergent and urgent cases. Additionally, leakage to competitors decreases while patients receive expedient care on their index presentation to the ED.
Increased volumes in the ER, inpatient units, and OR can lead to increased revenue generation, as well. Another effort as good stewards of our hospital partners, our surgicalists are committed to detailed and accurate documentation providing the greater potential to improve the case mix index and reimbursement.
The smarter effect comes full circle when patient experience, surgeon and employee engagement are high. Volumes increase, care coordination increases, volumes increase, quality metrics increase, and revenue increases. With such highly desirable results, the surgicalist model continues to be adopted as a clear market differentiator in hospitals nationwide.
