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S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 4 | O U T P AT 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
I
s there any reason why a nurse who does pre-
admission screens can't work from home? Not
at all, says Andy Whitener, MSPT, MBA,
administrator of the Gainesville (Ga.) Surgery
Center. Besides reducing staffing costs — the
nurse is paid per each screening she completes
— the nurse can do the screenings when it's
most convenient for the patient, especially help-
ful for those working 9-to-5. He adds that the cost
of having the nurse work from home is actually
less than holding nurses over in the facility to make these critical phone calls.
"We had several nurses who would stay after doing pre-admission screenings," says
Mr. Whitener, noting many times the nurses at the facility could only leave messages.
"They were trying to take care of patients and call others at the same time."
Mr. Whitener has made other enhancements to the center's financial health.
•
Gap duties.
The center implemented a "gap duty" policy to reduce staff costs.
Instead of having staff complete tasks like checking for outdated supplies or breaking
down boxes at the end of the day, staff complete them during gaps between cases.
•
Scheduling cases.
When it comes to increasing volume, Mr. Whitener says, "Bring it
on." The schedulers have a "never say no" policy, with staff scheduling the case first,
and then checking with the leadership team for review.
•
Negotiating with vendors.
Mr. Whitener says he targeted low-hanging fruit first to
help the center's finances when he arrived. He called and wrote all of Gainesville's ven-
dors, telling them he needed to lower costs or he was going to shop around. The strate-
gy worked, with half of them reducing prices by 10% or more and saving the center
$50,000 a year.
— Kendal Gapinski
WORK FROM HOME
Telecommuting RN Makes
Pre-Op Screen Phone Calls
l
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
Administrator
Andy
Whitener, MSPT, MBA, works with Business Office
Manager Lauren Bell at the Gainesville Surgery
Center in Georgia.
