HST Pathways on LinkedIn: #asc (2024)

Imagine a world where we purchase flights like we purchase surgery.✈️ ✈️ ✈️A travel agent refers you to an airline they are privileged to work with.The airline may or may not send you a financial estimate in advance. You may pay a little upfront or a little on the day of your flight. The airline has a pilot, so you'll be receiving a bill from them.The airline uses a baggage handling company you've never heard of. You'll also be receiving a bill from them. After you land, you have no idea how much you owe or when you'll receive these additional bills. Oh, and you will need to make follow-up visits to that travel agent, too, so there will be more bills from them to come!✈️ ✈️ ✈️If you are not proactively sending comprehensive financial estimates to patients before their surgery, then patients are experiencing this flight scenario. With HST Clariti - you can send patients one estimate that includes:✅ Facility fees✅ Surgeon fees✅ Anesthesia fees✅ Adjustments✅ Payor responsibility✅ Patient responsibility✅ Easy ways to payYour patients deserve to not stress over unknown costs, and you deserve to be paid upfront and in full. Happy travels!Actors: Hamilton Pirkle & Kendal Kintzinger

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After analyzing roughly 450,000 claim submissions from over 450 ASCs, we found that, on average, claims are:➡ 7% accurately paid➡ 8% overpaid➡ 85% underpaidMonitoring this data point is extremely important to ensure that your surgery center collects every penny you're contractually owed.So, why does an ASC get underpaid?First - getting underpaid does not necessarily mean you or the payor made a mistake.However, there are many reasons you may have been incorrectly underpaid: coding errors, documentation issues, policy changes, outdated contracts, late submissions, bundling issues, lack of preauthorization, secondary insurance issues, clearinghouse errors, etc. Plus, sometimes, payors underpay simply because they don't anticipate anyone catching it.If you're looking to audit your numbers or reduce underpayments:1️⃣ Conduct a thorough audit of the claims and payments to identify patterns and specific instances of underpayments.2️⃣ Review your contract terms with each payor to ensure you clearly understand the agreed-upon rates and payment terms. You'll also want to check fee schedules and any changes to your contract terms.3️⃣ Analyze the breakdown of the underpaid claims and your contracts to try to understand why the claims were underpaid or find trends.4️⃣ Based on your findings, your next steps will vary, but here are some different directions you may need to take: invest in more training for your staff, look to outsource to a revenue cycle partner, look into RCM software that would help scrub claims before submissions or flag underpayments for you, contact your payor reps, or request a review and correction.5️⃣ If it's an ongoing issue, scheduling recurring, standing meetings with your payor rep(s) could help, or maybe it's time to renegotiate contracts.6️⃣ Look at your payments on a daily or weekly basis – are the payment amounts generally matching the contract fees? If payment amounts are consistently lower than contract fees, why? Are there any visible trends over time?#ThisWeekinSurgeryCenters #SurgeryCenters #HealthcareNews

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Monitoring & improving OR utilization is the key to revenue maximization, cost management, and physician satisfaction.Yet, keeping utilization high can be tricky. In fact, after analyzing data from over 450 ASCs, we determined that, on average, 42% of blocked OR time is unused. 💰 ➡ 🗑 We've compiled a few resources to help surgery centers increase OR usage.🎙 Podcast: Janet Carlson – 6 Tips for Improving OR Utilization🎙 Podcast: Amy Ishmael – Maximizing OR Utilization Through Block Time Optimization📽 Video: Unused OR Blocks 🗒 Detailed Report: HST's State of the Industry ReportAll the links to the resources are in the first comment!

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Considering adding cardiovascular cases to your surgery center? This week's episode, featuring Kristen Richards of Atlas Healthcare Partners, kicks off our three-week series about capitalizing on the cardiology boom. We had a great discussion about what ASCs need to consider if they’re considering adding cardio cases to their existing ASC. 🔍 Market Assessment: Begin by evaluating your market and identifying a physician, often an electrophysiologist, to lead the #cardiovascular (CV) services. 📜 Regulatory Compliance: Understand the licensure and regulatory requirements specific to CV procedures. 💰 Financial Insights: Net revenue per case can reach up to $7,500, while infrastructure investments, such as mobile CRM or fixed imaging systems, can cost up to $1M. 👩⚕️ Staffing Strategy: Hire experienced cath lab professionals and leverage the attractive work-life balance of ASCs (no weekends, no holidays). 🔮 Future Outlook: Expect growth in procedures covered by Medicare, with potential for AFib ablations by 2025 and more complex procedures on the horizon. 📊 Performance Measurement: Focus on capturing quality metrics to optimize patient care and negotiate better with payors. Check out even more tips & ideas on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube! #Podcast #ThisWeekinSurgeryCenters #TWISC #ASC #SurgeryCenters

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ICYMI: Here's what's going on This Week in Surgery Centers. 📝 On May 10, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 7089 into law, enacting new price transparency requirements for ASCs that will go into effect at the start of the new year. On January 1, 2026, ASCs must post a consumer-friendly list of standard charges for at least 300 shoppable healthcare services or a price estimator tool meeting federal standards on their website. [Source: Ambulatory Surgery Center Association]🤖 A survey by National Nurses United found that AI often contradicts and undermines nurses' own clinical judgment and threatens patient safety. The NNU recently protested at Kaiser Permanente's conference, carrying signs such as "patients are not algorithms" and "trust nurses, not AI." As AI becomes more popular, it's safe to assume we can expect the pushback and concerns to match. [Source: National Nurses United] 👨🏾⚕️ Only about 15% of doctors nationwide are Black or Latino. Dr. Samuel Cook is working to change this narrative. Recently, Dr. Cook joined other doctors on Capitol Hill to urge lawmakers to address the shortage of physicians. Equity is extremely important as patients often feel more understood and comfortable with doctors who share their cultural and racial backgrounds, ultimately leading to better patient outcomes. [Source: Yahoo] 🩷 Dr. Ahyo is a mother of seven and a Southern New Hampshire University nursing professor. She now has two associate degrees, a bachelor's, a master's, and a doctorate. Her career in nursing began after the birth of her third son when she was inspired by a midwife who left a lasting impression. Through her teaching, she aspires to contribute to a mental health practitioner program and help address the national nursing shortage. [Source: Daily Nurse]Check out the full stories on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube!#HealthcareNews #ThisWeekinSurgeryCenters #TWISC

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No more manually crunching numbers. No more spreadsheet calculations. No more debates on what you're profiting per case.Determine case profitability in seconds with HST Profit Forecast 🙌

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Mon Health Center for Outpatient Surgery implemented HST's software six months prior to opening its doors. The results were significant:⭐ 100% chart completion & physician adoption⭐ Excellent physician experience⭐ Steady increase in patient volume with no interruptionsStacey Ferguson, Administrator, advocated starting implementation early.Stacey shared, "We chose to use HST prior to even completing construction. Starting early, about six months ahead of time, was one of the best decisions we made. We were able to build out our inventory, scheduling blocks, and things like that to make the system run seamlessly. We had our system entirely built before doing our first surgery.”Head to the comments to watch Stacey's full story!#SurgeryCenter #DeNovo #Healthcare

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🎙️ Last week, we covered six tips to improve OR utilization. On this week's episode, we're sitting down with Amy Ishmael to dig deeper into how you can improve OR utilization by optimizing block times.Why? Properly managing recurring block times can significantly enhance OR utilization, boosting productivity, patient throughput, and revenue.Here are 10 tips that Amy shared.1️⃣ Pay close attention to historical utilization analysis.2️⃣ Implement dynamic scheduling systems that allow real-time adjustments.3️⃣ Utilize automated systems to remind providers to release unused block times.4️⃣ Share open availability with providers to optimize scheduling.5️⃣ Require providers to release unused block times at least 48 hours in advance, ideally 72 hours.6️⃣ Implement consequences for late release to ensure efficient use.7️⃣ Have a clear and fair process for reallocating released block times to other providers.8️⃣ Publicly recognize providers who efficiently use their allocated block times, striving for 70% usage.9️⃣ Share reports correlating unused block time with budget and revenue impacts to highlight the importance of releasing unused time.🔟 Collect and analyze utilization rates, procedure durations, turnover times, provider performance, and patient flow data to improve OR efficiency and utilization.Check out even more tips & ideas on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube!#Podcast #ThisWeekinSurgeryCenters #TWISC #ASC #SurgeryCenters

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ICYMI: Here's the latest Data & Insights from This Week in Surgery Centers.After analyzing data from over 450 ASCs across the country, we determined that, on average, ASCs are experiencing an 8% denial rate on their claims.Our data analysts derived this metric by looking at roughly 251,000 claim submissions and calculating what percentage was successful.💰 Why does this data point matter?Claim management involves preparing, submitting, tracking, and managing insurance claims for your services. Proper claim management ensures timely and accurate reimbursem*nt, which is crucial for maintaining cash flow. It also plays a critical role in complying with payer requirements and regulatory guidelines.Looking to improve your claim denial rate?1️⃣ Perform a thorough analysis: Choose a time period, such as the past 12 months, and identify all denied claims.2️⃣ Try to identify patterns: Variables could include certain CPT codes, staff, payors, providers, implants, etc.3️⃣ Determine your action plan: Examples are implementing a more robust pre-authorization process, investing in claim scrubbing software, outsourcing to experienced coders, or training your in-house coding and billing staff.Another idea is to use more advanced technology - an integrated EHR and practice management solution that supports electronic claims submission would streamline the entire claim management process.Check out the full story on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube!#Podcast #ThisWeekinSurgeryCenters #TWISC #ASC #SurgeryCenters

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Unleash the Power of Your Surgery Center Data! 📊HST Data Stream allows ASCs to increase productivity and gain a clearer understanding of their center's performance.Explore the walkthrough of HST Data Stream to discover how you can: ✅ Get easy access to your raw ASC data✅ Choose between a daily full data load or hourly updates of only changed data✅ Consolidate your HST product data into one unified place #DataManagement #HealthcareData #DataVisualization

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