Want docs to be happy? Try 'Please a Practice'
Want docs to be happy? Try 'Please a Practice'
Surgery center's program improves utilization
You may think physicians are tough to please, but St. Agnes Surgery Center in Ellicott City, MD, has found a way. Largely as a result of the "Please a Practice" program, St. Agnes has increased physician utilization of the surgery center by 20%.
"Our goal is to improve physician, patient, and office staff satisfaction," says director Donna Broccolino, RN. The physicians' staff is especially critical, Broccolino says. "They determine where the patient is going," she says. "They know where the insurance goes."
Visitation teams of two staff members make an appointment with the office manager of physicians who practice at the center. They bring a package of information, including copies of forms, to familiarize the office staff with the center's procedures. For example, the physician's staff may not be aware that St. Agnes transcribes operative reports within 24 hours, Broccolino says.
The teams bring goodies such as cookies or popcorn. More importantly, they offer to implement one suggestion from each visit. "They come away with the opportunity to make one thing different [about the surgery center]," she says.
In response to a suggestion from one of the meetings, St. Agnes purchased an additional ophthalmology stretcher, which allowed for shorter turnaround times, Broccolino says.
One or two teams make visits weekly, spending about 15 to 20 minutes per office and visiting four or five offices in a day, she says. The visits are conducted during times when the surgery center is not as busy, she says.
"We've gotten a lot of employee satisfaction out of it, as well," Broccolino says. "Those same people [on the teams] are the people in the OR working with the physicians. It opens the opportunity to communicate with the physicians" through an informal contact in the office setting.
Broccolino says the "Please a Practice" program focuses on improving relationships with physicians who already work with the center. "We don't market to doctors who have never used our facility," she says.
After the visits, the staff make follow-up calls and relate how they are implementing the suggestions.
Improved relationships also may make it easier to discuss product standardization, physician profiling, and other cost-containment issues with physicians, Broccolino says. "That's our ultimate goal," she says. *
For more information about the "Please A Practice" program, contact:
* Donna Broccolino, Director, St. Agnes Surgery Center, 2850 N. Ridge Road, Ellicott City, MD 21043. Telephone: (410) 461-1600. Fax: (410) 750-7615.
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