Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/274954
28 Executive Brief: ASC Benchmarking SURGICAL OUTCOMES Information Exchange, SOIX®, has been providing procedure-specific benchmarking for ambulatory surgery centers since 1999. Members of SOIX are comprised of surgery centers across the United States that participate in all aspects of clinical, cost, and satisfaction benchmarking. pain and patient satisfaction are all better than the benchmark, then the longer recovery could be justified. "Sometimes, the good outweighs the bad," says Ms. Green. Q: how can ASCs use information about meeting or exceed- ing benchmarks to their advantage? A: ASCs that surpass all benchmarks can use this information to market their centers. "We have a hospital in town that advertises their cardiology program by publicizing the time it takes them to open the artery," says Ms. Green. "They say their time is XX min- utes faster than the national average. So, benchmarking is not always about finding opportunities for improvement. It can also be about proving your excellence and identifying a best practice." Q: is there a right and wrong way to present ASC benchmark- ing information to physician owners, operating partners and patients? A: SOIX strongly recommends the presenter not make any judg- ments or draw conclusions when presenting benchmarking re- sults. Their job is to report findings. Instead of saying "this report shows our recovery time is too long," they can say "this report shows our average recovery time as being 10 minutes longer than the benchmark average." However, presenters should also prepare to answer questions about the results and in some cases be ready for someone who wants to "shoot the messenger." "Physicians deal in science; they want to see proof," says Ms. Green. "Our reports include graphics and data. We make it a pri- ority to train the center on understanding both. It is especially im- portant if the numbers used in the calculations were small, making the percentages seem better or worse than they are." For example a pain relieve score of 50 percent is not very mean- ingful if only two patients had pain, and a 10 percent complication rate may not be significant if it reflects one out of 10 cases. "However, looking at it cumulatively, a 10 percent complication rate reflective of 40 cases reported over four quarters may be very significant," says Ms. Green. Q: how will data collection today impact my ASC in the fu- ture? A: Technology and patient involvement in healthcare decisions have evolved immensely over the past decade. Patients can look up health information on their phones and make appointments with care providers they select online. In July 2013, the USNews. com reported four in every 10 hospitals in the United States now have electronic medical records and new legislation focused on quality of care and price transparency will be enacted over the next few years. "The fact is, we now use data to make decisions all the time, and as our lives become more and more data-driven, the reliability of that data will be essential," says Ms. Green. A few ASCs tracking cost and quality data now publish these points online and can use their data to attract patients and referral providers locally and globally. Payers and industry partners are also interested in the center's data, and being able to understand data supporting the ASC as a quality provider will be vital for sur- vival in the future. n "The fact that an ASC is also a business means that the second priority is making sure your costs are not higher than your income. Then, it becomes an issue of balance. You cannot provide good care if you can- not stay in business and you will not stay in business if you don't provide quality care." — Jennifer Green, Surgical Outcomes Information Exchange