FEATURE
cise is to identify the value, power and points of influence of each customer. Value is the role the customer plays in the ASC’s operation. The term value, as it is used here, is not a judgment of the individual, but rather an objective sales term. Power is the control or ability to influence that the customer has over the ASC. Points of influence, or touch points, are the opportunities that the ASC has to interact with the customer. Here are a few examples:
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Patients: The ASC exists to take care of patients. Without the patient there is no reimbursable product or service. Patients have a limited power of choice, especially about where they go for their procedure, and significantly more options to advertise the ASC to family and friends through word of mouth, so- cial media posts, online reviews, etc. The points of influence are dur- ing the preoperative call, all inter- actions on the day of the procedure, the postoperative call and any mail that they receive from your ASC.
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Families: Their primary value is to influence others and their ability to advertise the ASC. The points of influence are every interaction that they have with your ASC.
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Physicians: The physicians’ primary value is to perform procedures, in- fluence the quality of the procedures and advertise the ASC. Again, the points of influence are every interac- tion that they have with your ASC.
Staff members: Their primary value is to help the physicians perform procedures, care for patients and ensure that all of the behind-the- scenes functions are accomplished. The points of influence are each contact that they have with your ASC’s physicians and patients. The next step is to diagram every point of influence. A sample diagram, using a patient as the customer, ap- pears above.
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Turn Points of Influence into Touchdowns While it’s easy to overlook the impor- tance of phone training and etiquette, re- member that the first contact your ASC likely has with patients and physicians’ offices is over the phone. Some ASCs face declining case vol-
umes. This may be the result of poor clini- cal care, increased competition, surgeon retirement, payer issues or unfriendly clini- cal staff—the list is endless. Let’s consider one real-life scenario where an ASC expe- rienced declining volume because of two primary causes: (1) The surgery scheduler was rude to the physicians’ offices, making them feel like she was doing them a favor by scheduling the case, not returning phone calls promptly, and not making an effort to accommodate the surgeon’s office if the time was not readily available; and (2) the problem was compounded by an operat- ing room (OR) director who decreased her workload and reduced staff complaints by canceling cases and moving cases to other days that were less convenient for the pa- tients or the physician’s office. The following aspects of this scenario
are also worth noting: ■
The ASC’s physician owners were un- aware that their offices were schedul-
ing elsewhere because of the rude scheduler at the surgery center;
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The actions of the OR director went unnoticed until an assessment picked up the pattern; and
The ASC was on the brink of finan- cial ruin due to two employees. To help prevent such a scenario, ASCs should write down any and all of the touches or points of influence that the ASC has with its customers, and categorize them either by person or by location.
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Schedulers at each surgeon’s of- fice should have a personal con- nection to the administrator and be comfortable enough to call the ad- ministrator if a problem occurs. Also, the ASC should ensure that cancella- tions and “missed cases” are docu- mented, trended and monitored. Another exercise that is useful in identifying potential problem areas for improvement is to take employees on a “sensations” tour. During the tour, each employee should carry a sheet that includes a list of each point of influ- ence. On that sheet, they should indi- cate how they perceived each point in terms of their senses and emotions, in-
ASC FOCUS JANUARY 2013 19
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