Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.
Issue link: http://outpatientsurgery.uberflip.com/i/736968
An Administrator's Work Is Never Done The days are never dull when you must be an expert in everything. A s if you don't have enough to do, now you can add dress code enforcer and bill collector to your ever-expanding job descrip- tion. Banning skullcaps Collecting co-pays Putting in those 12-hour days Of all things, surgeons and nurses are in a dustup over what consti- tutes appropriate headwear in the OR (see "Readers in a Flap Over Skullcaps" on page 8). It's your job to officiate and to make sure nobody's feelings get hurt. On a more serious note, it's also your job to make sure patients pay their deductibles and co-pays on the day of surgery. As you'll see in "Get Patients to Pay in Full on the Day of Surgery" on page 18, out- of-pocket costs are out of control. In the past 5 years, the average co- pay for outpatient surgery for those with employer-sponsored insur- ance has risen 43%. It's even higher for those covered through the Affordable Care Act's exchanges. Patients may not be aware of — or able to afford — what they owe. Beds that can hold 500 pounds Integrating surgery's sights and sounds This issue is a 72-page testament to all that you do as a surgical facili- ty leader, to a job that never ends and to work that's never done. Our feature story lineup is nearly as vast and as varied as your duties and responsibilities. One in 3 Americans is obese, a rate that has been steadily growing for more than 2 decades. Our cover story on the challenges of treating today's rising population of obese patients points to a disturbing — but perhaps unavoidable — trend. As you'll see in "Heavy Duty" on 1 0 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • O C T O B E R 2 0 1 6 Editor's Page Dan O'Connor