FEATURE
Don’t Overlook Revenue Cycle Management When filling business office positions, do not look for savings, Dees says, as a poor performing revenue cycle can doom a cardiology ASC. “An experi- enced revenue cycle management team is critical. Cardiology procedures can generate significant revenue. If your business office makes mistakes, such as not receiving the correct preauthoriza- tion, you may not get paid.” Hire skilled people to monitor your performance, stay on top of appeals and do what is necessary to get your ASC paid.
two types of custom surgical packs that have essentially everything we need for setup, with case-specific items consigned.”
ASC Cardiology Don’ts Don’t Assume Private Payers Cover ASC Cardiology Even though CMS is expanding its list of ASC-approved cardiology pro- cedures, private payers are not neces- sarily following suit, Dees says. “Not all payers are comfortable yet with approving these procedures for ASCs. Even if they do, reimbursement is con- stantly changing, so you need to mon- itor those rates to determine whether it makes financial sense to begin per- forming covered procedures.”
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Don’t Underestimate the Importance of an Optimized Schedule Kreienbrink has a heightened aware- ness of his ASC's surgical schedule. He and his team work to ensure every schedule has as few gaps as possible. “You want to avoid downtime because downtime is unproductive time. Time blocks can be wonderful and help with scheduling organization and consis- tency, but they can also create prob- lems.” If you have a morning time block that is not completely booked, you can have a block of time that is unproductive until the next provider shows up for their afternoon proce- dures, he says. Stacking cases back- to-back is key, even if that requires adjusting your blocks.
Don’t Go It Alone Opening and running a successful car- diology ASC is difficult, Atkisson says. Recognizing the numerous challenges his surgery center was going to face led him to seek out expert assistance rather than trying to tackle everything inter- nally. “While we worked exceptionally hard at building our facility, we would not be operational without the com- mitment and help of a consulting firm that set us on the right track adminis- tratively from the beginning.” The firm helped the ASC achieve accreditation, strategically streamline its operations and avoid areas of bureaucratic pit- falls. “You do not need to know every- thing to run a cardiology ASC, you just need to know people who do.”
Proceed with Care
If you choose to pursue a cardiol- ogy ASC, be prepared to play the long game, Dees says. “Success takes time, even if you do everything right. Develop a financial model, analyze the investment and determine the likely return on investment and how long that will take for your physicians. Every- one involved in the project must have a realistic expectation.” Kreienbrink offers some final advice
that he has relied upon to help keep his cardiology ASC on the path for success: “Make sure any decision you make is backed by data and research.”
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