Image by u_gzwjc5ts from PixabayCompliance may never be glamorous, but for ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) navigating evolving regulations, staffing shortages and tightening margins, it is an especially important component of success.
And that makes investing in compliance-support strategies critical, industry insiders point out.
“Each and every day is a different day,” Suzi Gausman, CEO of Nebraska Orthopaedic Center, said during a recent MedTrainer webinar. “There are days where the excitement level may be a little bit more than one would desire.”
Nebraska Orthopaedic Center offers a range of services, including total joint replacement, sports medicine procedures, general orthopedic procedures and more.
Gausman recalled a recent scenario when her team was going live with a new EMR system and was met by surveyors from the Department of Health and Human Services on the same day.
“Then we throw this new friend into the mix, called the new EMR,” Gausman said. “And we think we’ve got go-live ready to go, and we think we have things well suited to be able to have an incredible go-live week, and who shows up at your front doorstep but the Department of Health and Human Services – ready to do a survey on your location the day that you’re going live.”
Despite the timing, preparation helped Nebraska Orthopaedic Center manage the disruption.
“Because we had an organization that believed in the importance of compliance, we were able to navigate that curveball,” Gausman said.
A compliance safety net
ASC operators often view compliance as a burden, but that technology can significantly reduce the pressure, Kevin Stineman, COO of MedTrainer, said during the webinar.
“Compliance can feel daunting,” Stineman said. “But if you are organized and use technology, you could put yourself in an audit-ready position that will allow you to sleep at night.”
MedTrainer provides compliance, credentialing and learning management software for health care organizations, helping streamline regulatory training and documentation processes. The company serves thousands of medical practices, hospitals and health care facilities across the U.S.
Gausman said her approach to compliance starts with making sure everyone on staff is able to work at the top of their license. That starts with up-to-date credentialing.
“To keep everyone working at the top of their license, a very efficient technology that allows us to keep them credentialed and safely providing care for patients is very important,” she said.
And compliance data has moved from paper binders to the cloud and, taking it a step further, into platforms that can help operators find out more information, Gausman added.
“Scanning a piece of paper and turning it into a PDF is a start, but it’s still just a fancy file cabinet,” she said. “When you start pulling data out of PDFs and putting it into a software platform, you’re unleashing a totally different value.”
And cloud-based tools can now help ASCs identify risks in real time, automate checks and uncover patterns before problems arise.
“We’re now able to take a completely different view of the data through very powerful tools and analytics,” Stineman said.
The business case
Still, getting buy-in for compliance tools is not always easy, Gausman said.
“It’s not nearly as glossy or fancy as something like a new robot for surgery,” she said.
Even so, noncompliance comes at a far greater cost, Gausman argued.
“Out of compliance can cause delay in revenue and denied reimbursements, which is a significant hiccup in us being able to continue our mission,” she said.
She urged operators to be thoughtful when selecting vendors.
“Make sure the organization is willing to either work to integrate with existing technology or already has platforms that do integrate,” Gausman said. “Understand the relational values that underlie the tech.”
Yet the ultimate benefit of compliance technology is visibility, Stineman said.
“There’s nothing like visibility to give you peace of mind,” he said. “You might be initially scared by what you find, but then you can develop a plan to clean it up.”
Operators should focus first on digitizing their data, then on building analytics capabilities that enable proactive risk management, he said.
“Think about how you are solving for digitization, visibility, audit readiness and ultimately automation,” Stineman said.
Gausman agreed and said integration is especially important as her organization adopts a new EMR.
“Make sure that the technology company is one that is willing to work to integrate with existing technology,” Gausman said. “When we have too many platforms, it’s hard to keep things organized.”
At the end of the day, she said, compliance tools may not be flashy, but they are essential.
“It may not be the most exciting thing to invest in, but it’s the thing that allows you to keep caring for patients,” Gausman said.
