BUSINESS ADVISOR
patients will seek out surgeons who achieve the best outcomes with the lowest costs.
You'll find that most surgeons who are presented with the cold hard facts will self-correct costly habits by clearing their preference cards of the toys that make surgery easier, but not necessarily better.
That's not to say there won't be outliers. One of our surgeons promised to consolidate several expensive supplies into one, but still hasn't. When we meet with his group of surgeons again, he won't be told to change, but he and his colleagues will be shown the disappointing numbers.
Many surgeons are
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ACTION PLAN
How to Measure Cost Per Case
1. Identify the 5 highest-volume and the 5 highest-cost procedures for each service line.
2. Identify the surgeons and their direct supply costs per case within each of the high-volume and high-cost procedures.
3. Identify the higher-cost supplies within each of the procedures and compare surgeon usage.
4. Examine choice and use of items on preference cards for surgeons with higher direct supply costs per case within each of the procedures.
5. Compare vendor use for supplies among surgeons to look for opportunities to standardize.
— Susan Comp, RN, BSN, MHA
LESS COSTLY ALTERNATIVES? Pick
your high-volume, high-cost procedures, and examine the cost of each supply for each surgeon.
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