Becker's ASC Review

24 PATIENT SATISFACTION Quality, stability and patient satisfaction: Why one CEO stays independent By Patsy Newitt For Gregg Florentin, maintaining independence is key to maintaining financial stability. Mr. Florentin is the CEO of Michigan Orthopaedic Surgeons in Southfield. He spoke with Becker's ASC Review on the importance of ASC independence. Question: On a scale of 1-10, how important is it to you that your cen- ter is independent? Gregg Florentin: I would give it a 10 on a scale of 10, because our physi- cians feel there is a strong collegial drive to offer a more stable baseline to draw from where we can focus on maintaining quality, financial stability, growth, patient or employee satisfaction and service excellence. Moving forward, we don't feel we can ever get that from being nonindependent when our strategy plans include some great growth opportunity and our plans to adapt to innovative healthcare. Q: What's the most important thing you've learned about your center in the past year? GF: How to adapt our merged super group in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic where challenges stemmed from combined cultures, new expectations, trying to eliminate the "this is how it's always been" mentality and building morale. n Dr. Zarina Ali creates program to reduce opioid use post-spine surgery By Alan Condon N eurosurgeon Zarina Ali, MD, of Philadelphia-based Penn Medicine has developed a program that helps decrease opioid use and length of stay after elective spine and peripheral nerve surgery. Recently published in Pain Medicine, the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery program was shown to reduce pain medications for patients at one, three and six months after surgery. "Patients following the ERAS protocol reported less opioid use without higher pain scores," Dr. Ali said. "This represents an important advance in the context of the current nationwide opioid epidemic." The ERAS program connects with patients before, during and after surgery to help prevent opioid addiction. The system includes patient education, nutrition information, early mobilization and recovery plans. The study enrolled 1,141 patients in the ERAS program and measured their opioid use with 149 controls who received the standard of care. At one month postop, 38.6 percent of the ERAS cohort needed pain medi- cations, compared to 70.5 percent of the control group. Only 23.6 percent of the ERAS group needed pain medications six months after surgery, compared to 51.9 percent in the control group. The ERAS group also had shorter hospital stays. n He 'dramatically increased team morale': One ASC administrator to know By Patsy Newitt S ince becoming the managing direc- tor of North Hollywood, Calif.-based Universal Care Surgery Center in 2016, Boris Tripolski has transformed the center's work environment, according to colleagues. Mr. Tripolski "quickly identified how to shape the center to become the leading choice for physicians and patients in Los Angeles," ac- cording to clinical psychologist Samantha Liberman, who has worked with Mr. Tripolski through her connections with orthopedic surgeons. In his first year, he created an outpatient spine and total knee replacement program with zero infections and a 99 percent patient satisfaction rate through recruiting physi- cians and negotiating equipment, Ms. Liber- man told Becker's. In 2019, he recruited a small group of gas- troenterologists and general surgeons who specialize in laparoscopic nissen fundo- plication to help treat patients with severe heartburn. Key to his success is his outgoing personality, and "his dedication to outreach has contrib- uted tremendously to the center, as well as the community in which he resides," Ms. Liber- man said. "He has created an incredibly positive work environment and dramatically increased team morale and efficiency," she said. "He always demonstrated an incredible work ethic, an extensive knowledge of surgical center admin- istration and of business administration. He is well respected by his colleagues and all those that work with him." Universal Care Surgery Center is a multispe- cialty ASC accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care. n

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