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there's an important economic component to making sure every step
from pre-op to discharge is safe for patients: Just 1 malpractice suit
can seriously hamper, if not devastate, a facility. Put a patient safety
audit on the agenda for the last quarter of the year — it might take
you a couple days, but if it prevents even 1 serious event, it'll have
been worth the time.
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Outcomes
Every case has an outcome, and everything you do in your facili-
ty will affect outcomes. What's more: Surgical facilities are going to be
paid based on their outcomes. Some in the industry are shaking their
fists and saying, "That's not fair! We shouldn't be paid by how the
patient experience turns out!" Really? Isn't that what it's all about?
Audit your facility to determine whether your operations are set up
for good outcomes. There are 2 sides to examine when you do this.
First, on the patient side, when I go in as a consultant I track the
patient experience from the booking at the surgeon's office to the
delivery of the final bill. I look at these areas:
• How do facility staff interact with the surgeon's office on scheduling the procedure and determining proper patient and procedure
selection? This very much determines if patients have positive or frustrating experiences.
• Has the patient been properly counseled pre-operatively so there
are no surprises when the bill arrives? Will it be a shock when they
O C T O B E R 2012 | O U T PAT 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
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