Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASCs) are healthcare facilities that focus on providing same-day diagnostic, preventative care, and surgery. The advent of ASCs has been a godsend to the healthcare system of the United States because it saves Americans a great deal of time and money relative to out-patient procedures provided by Hospitals. Surgeons at ASCs are fully licensed medical professionals and routinely perform various outpatient procedures. The ASCA holds all ASCs in America to the same standards as hospital facilities.
Ambulatory surgery centers such as plastic surgery practices are expected to become the fastest growing healthcare practice over the next decade in the US. They are predicted to grow by 16% by 2026. A research study has also shown that higher profit surgeries are more likely to be performed at a surgery center than at a hospital, which shows that plastic surgery practices have higher chances of profiting.
This growth can be attributed to the fact that plastic surgery involves immediate procedures. Besides, the technological advancements in plastic surgery and improved post-surgery care make plastic surgery more accessible and convenient, facilitating growth and profit for plastic surgery practice. Challenges such as a rise in competition, healthcare regulations, and operational costs can affect the growth of plastic surgery practice. However, to ensure profitability, a plastic surgery practice must optimize operations, find ways to save costs and improve efficiency.
Improving the profits of a private plastic surgery practice can be challenging as the field is getting increasingly competitive. In the midst of all the surgeries, paperwork, and meeting medical representatives, it is important for a practice to focus their marketing efforts in an economic manner to gain more patients and increase profits. As the market grows, it is essential for your plastic surgery practice to compete with local hospitals and other centers. Cost-saving and profit-building strategies are the need of the hour to maintain financial stability and facilitate a profitability increase. Want to know how ASCs gain more patients and profitability despite the cost-saving procedures? Here are 5 ways in which ASCs can secure more revenue.
Recruit Physicians
This is the number one strategy for any ASC to expand in reputation and profitability. But why recruit physicians? Because there’s often always a shortage of good physicians, and the pool keeps shrinking. The most important asset of your ASC is the number of full-time specialists it houses for immediate treatment.
Bringing in physicians with key specialties like the spine or the foot improves the repertoire of an ASC, which positively correlates to profitability in the long run. It allows you to draw in patients seeking long-term care for their unique medical problems. ASCs can consolidate their financial position by maintaining a full-time team of highly-skilled surgeons with varying specialties.
Review Case Costing Regularly
The number one way for any business to increase its profitability is by reviewing its costs regularly to see what can be reduced. ASCs are no exception because there are numerous capital and revenue expenditures involved with operating a healthcare facility. Talking about Equipment, consumables, staff, rent, electricity, legal fees, taxes, and supply chain costs only scratches the surface.
One of the primary ways in which ASCs have been known to reduce costs is by increasing their efficiency. This means reducing the time taken for each procedure without breaking the decorum of the ASCA or standards of quality. Getting ASC surgeons and industry experts involved is a great place to start because they can bring experiential insight backed by medical knowledge.
Use Benchmarking
Benchmarking involves comparing the performance of your ASCs to other ASCs operating in the same State. Researching how other companies operate and make profits can help you find out which areas of operation need improvement and discover solutions. You need to create benchmarks for financial statistics and payroll to ensure your ASC maintains a competitive level of performance and profitability.
Limit Capital Expenditures
Since ASC’s don’t typically keep patients overnight the capital expenditure should be limited only to equipment used to improve patient care. It’s wasteful to purchase equipment that makes no contribution to the patient’s experience just for the sake of having the latest technology or a certain brand.
As long as the equipment is fully functional, meets with the ASDA’s regulatory compliances, and doesn’t require special training to operate, it’s good for the job. In today’s economic climate it’s important, especially for ASCs, to make a cost-benefit analysis of every capital expense. Given how many medical devices and consumables ASCs need on an annual basis, saving funds wherever viable on capital expenditure can make a huge difference in profitability.
Improve Patient Flow And Experience
One of the most innovative ways to optimize your business operations for more profitability and turnover is to start with the customer’s experience and work your way backward. What are the aspects of the customer’s experience that can be improved upon?
The main selling point ASCs capitalize on is efficiency. You need to find ways to streamline everything from diagnosis of patients to immediate treatment and after-care scheduling. There are many ways to go about it. You could purchase new healthcare management IT system, make new supply and logistics partners for prompt deliveries, or increase staff if needed.
Choosing the Right Supplier
Tying up with the right supplier who provides your practice all the essential materials when required is highly imperative. The right supplier ensures that your practice saves not only time and effort but costs, which can exponentially affect your profits. For instance, Dermatology Center in Georgia is a practice that conducts skincare, weight loss, cosmetic surgery and more. They joined forces with Pipeline Medical, which efficiently delivers quality surgical supplies at the most competitive prices. The center saved a considerable amount of time and money, with 30% savings on switching to Pipeline Medical’s services.
So, if your plastic surgery practice is looking for the right supplier, Pipeline Medical is here to offer you the best deals at the most reasonable prices.
