from competing programs, sat down together and agreed on the key
aspects of our protocols," says Ms. Roberts. "The consultant was inte-
gral in putting our physicians in a room and getting them to compro-
mise on certain things."
For example, they had to agree on the exclusion criteria (poorly
controlled diabetes, cardiac disease) as well as protocols for things
like anticoagulation and wound closure. The consultant also helped to
mediate intense discussions about where the facility needed to draw
the line about acceptable comorbidities.
"There was a lot of discussion among our surgeons about medica-
tions they wanted to use and use of local anesthetics," says Carla
Daley, RN, BSN, the senior director of clinical operations for Regent
Surgical Health, an Illinois-based ASC management firm that is a
partner with OSI. The total joints consultant was there to steer these
discussions in a productive way.
The consulting program was also instrumental in helping OSI with
data collection and patient education through a customizable engage-
ment app that was available to patients free of charge. "They had a
template of a program that we went through line by line, and worked
out all of the kinks," says Ms. Roberts. The facility begins communi-
cating with patients through the app 30 days before scheduled proce-
dures. One of the first questions candidates for surgery are asked is,
Are you a smoker? If they answer yes, the app automatically sends
OSI's care team an alert, so they can immediately discuss smoking-
cessation strategies with the patient.
Ultimately, the success of starting a new outpatient total joints pro-
gram is going to rest on your staff's shoulders, but consultants can
help you bring all the pieces together during that critical, often-chaot-
ic early phase of the launch. "We were lucky to work with someone
who had a lot of expertise and who was able to give us that outside
5 4 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 9
