6 3
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4 | O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E
V
entral hernia surgery is never going to be a financial
bonanza for outpatient facilities, but does it have to be a
losing proposition? Absolutely not. Several administra-
tors we chatted with say the procedure can turn a nice
profit, provided you carefully manage the significant
number of variables involved.
The notion that ventral hernia repair is a loss leader comes from an
oft-quoted 2013 study (
tinyurl.com/l96qxyd
) from the University of
Kentucky College of Medicine, which concluded that "ventral hernia
repair is associated with overall financial losses," often resulting, in
fact, in "striking net financial losses."
Another fine mesh
An easy trap to fall into, says Debbie Teetzel, MSN, administrator of
the Rocky Mountain Surgery Center in Englewood, Colo., is assuming
your surgeons think about costs. "Sometimes they do," she says. "But
sometimes they're not aware there's other stuff out there. Sometimes
their decisions are based on which rep just took them golfing, or
which one took them out to dinner. They say, 'I want this product'
when they don't really know how much it costs, all they know is they
liked the rep. So I do a tremendous amount of financial in-services
with doctors."
Get surgeons to agree on a single mesh supplier and then leverage
volume into purchasing power, says Michael Pankey, ADN, BA, MBA,
administrator of the ASC of Spartanburg (S.C.). "I'll do a lunch with my
surgeons," he says. "I'll bring 3 mesh types in, from 3 different suppli-
ers, and I'll try to bring in the 3 lowest-priced meshes I can get my
hands on. I put them in front of the surgeons, they look at them, they
have discussions about what they like and don't like. And 9 times out
of 10 they can come to a conclusion where the vast majority are satis-
V E N T R A L H E R N I A
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