much work it is," says Mr. Schewe.
3. Develop a marketing strategy
Most patients are still unaware that they can go to an outpatient facili-
ty for joint replacement surgery, says John Walters, senior director for
Zimmer Biomet Signature Solutions' Outpatient Program. When you
sign up, you pay for different services, each of which gives you and
your facility support as you start implementing outpatient total joint
procedures. One of the services offered is help getting the word about
the procedure out to patients, says Mr. Walters. A marketing team sits
down with your facility to help design a plan for patient awareness.
That includes anything from newspaper and radio ads, to seminars, to
sometimes even a billboard, that promotes your facility for outpatient
total joint care, says Mr. Walters.
"The goal is to let people know outpatient total joint surgery is pos-
sible," he says.
Medtronic provides similar help on this front. It has a generic mar-
keting template, which facilities can use to advertise their program. All
your facility has to do is add your logo and print it out.
"It's up to (the facilities) to leverage that," says Elaine Sebak,
Medtronic's senior manager of marketing development.
4. Map out surgical workflow
Some companies will help your facility form a step-by-step plan for
the day of surgery. Zimmer Biomet does this by sending specialists to
sit down with members of your facility. They'll ask you questions to
gauge, among other things, how comfortable your facility is with
quick patient turnaround, how long your surgeon takes to complete a
procedure, how large your facility is and how many patients you can
accommodate, says Mr. Walters.
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