example, that your patients don't understand
the type of anesthesia they receive and take
steps at the scheduling and pre-op phone call
levels to correct that," says Mr. Albertz. "Since
the requirement went away, we've still used
the data as an internal educational tool."
Mr. Albertz's facility used to send satisfac-
tion surveys and postage-paid envelopes to
every patient. The postage costs alone added
up quickly; the facility did 14,000 cases a year
and 90% of the surveys were returned. That's
not even factoring in the labor costs of log-
ging and processing the responses. Now, his
facility receives data from his outside vendor
within 30 to 40 days of it being collected.
"We were able to cost-justify working with
an outside vendor for that reason alone," he
says. "The feedback you get from patients is a
great tool if you learn from it."
Does it make sense to add even more ques-
tions to a survey that many experts deemed
too labor intensive to begin with? It might if
you're doing away with conducting your own
satisfaction surveys, like Mr. Albertz has done.
Keep in mind, however, that the vendors will
reach only a fraction of your patient popula-
tion, especially if you run a high-volume facili-
ty.
"If you're doing 8,000 cases a year, and get-
ting 300 surveys completed to meet the CMS
J U N E 2 0 1 8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 1 0 9
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