9 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 | M AY 2 0 1 4
improvement. Stellar patient care remains our top priority.
7. Stir surgeons' competitive fires. We hold quarterly
owners' board meetings. At one of these meetings, we present each
surgeon's annual cost-per-case data for the whole group to see. It's a
lot of work on our part figuring out which lenses they used, their OR
times, the reimbursements for the cases they booked, and the instru-
ments and supplies that were on the field. But it's well worth it.
Surgeons are competitive by nature. They strive to achieve great sur-
gical results and outcomes as well as better efficiency. Soon after
board meetings, we notice a dramatic drop in our case costs.
Surgeons might use more reusable blades rather than disposables.
And they might forgo breaking for lunch or taking a phone call when
an OR is waiting for them.
8. Install a camera monitoring
system. Sometimes you feel like an air traffic controller when
you're running a busy cataract surgery center. Maybe that's why we
have video cameras throughout our center and a 16-grid video sys-
tem in pre-op, post-op and in my office. Ten of the grids show what's
going in the OR. On each monitor, you can track where each patient
is in surgery and anticipate what's next. For example, we can see
how many of our 10 pre-op bays are open. And as soon as we see on
the monitor that the IOL has been implanted, we alert the turnover
team. The video system eliminates a lot of running back and forth
and needless shouting. OSM
Ms. Lord (
nlord@riverdrivesurg ery.com
) is the administrator of the River
Drive Surgery Center in Elmwood Park, N.J.
O P H T H A L M O L O G Y
OSE_1405_part2_Layout 1 5/8/14 2:24 PM Page 94
