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Specialty Orthopaedics Surgery Center (SOSC)

Learn how Specialty Orthopaedics Surgery Center uses SIS Complete to reduce cost and inefficiencies associated with paper charts, improve its case costing, and optimize patient care delivery.

Specialty Orthopaedics

Overview

  • Icon material-location-onNortheast Georgia
  • Icon awesome-lightbulb ASC

Specializing in orthopaedic 
diagnosis and treatment, SOSC is 
the only orthopaedic ambulatory surgery center in Hall County.

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Situation

Specialty Orthopaedics Surgery Center (SOSC) in Northeast Georgia specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of orthopedic injuries and offers the only orthopedic ambulatory surgery center (ASC) in Hall County. SOSC has experienced significant surgical volume growth since 2016, when leadership secured reimbursement for total joint replacements performed in an ASC setting from private payers. The ASC is now in what it described as “aggressive growth mode,” fueled, in part, by Medicare’s decision to cover outpatient total knee arthroplasties starting in 2020. 

With rapid growth comes opportunities and challenges. In SOSC’s case, one significant challenge concerned the cost and inefficiency associated with paper charts. For example: 

  • Having outgrown its on-site storage capacity, SOSC spent thousands of dollars each year for off-site storage, chart pulls, and courier fees.
  • Staff was unable to quickly access information from previous surgeries for repeat patients who had returned for another procedure. This had a negative impact on patient, surgeon, and staff satisfaction.
  • Chart packs were managed on clipboards that were assembled when a case was scheduled. The clipboards were then passed around by the nursing staff to complete their individual pieces. As a result, only one person could work on a chart at a time.

case volume

The center had maxed out its ability to handle the case volume on paper, and had plans to double the size of the ASC from two to four ORs. This led SOSC to consider moving to an electronic health record (EHR). Although the center felt that when it comes to EHR, people have a fear of change and think it is less risky to do nothing. But, not implementing an EHR was far riskier because it would keep them from growing at the pace they had planned. 

Solution

As a current user of an ASC management system from Surgical Information Systems (SIS), SOSC evaluated and selected the SIS Charts™ cloud-based electronic clinical documentation solution, which integrated with the management system. A year later, the ASC decided to move to SIS Complete™, SIS’ comprehensive, cloud-based technology solution on a single platform.

“SIS Complete gives us an ‘ASC-in-a-box’ from a technology perspective, all from one vendor partner. We want to do what is right and best for our patients. SIS Complete helps us to accomplish those goals.”

Elizabeth Conto

Business Office Manager, SOSC

SIS Complete provides all the components needed for ASCs to run efficiently and cost-effectively, while delivering quality outcomes.

“SIS Complete gives us an ‘ASC-in-a-box’ from a technology perspective, all from one vendor partner,” said Elizabeth Conto, SOSC’s business office manager. “We want to do what is right and best for our patients. SIS Complete helps us to accomplish those goals.”

Results

On the clinical side, SOSC has improved several paper-based processes by switching to SIS Charts, saving money and gaining efficiencies as a result. The ASC has greatly reduced the costs associated with storage and retrieval of paper records and enjoys the ability for multiple people to document on a single chart concurrently.

“We are able to work more efficiently because we aren’t shuffling clipboards among staff anymore,” said Conto. “Now, multiple people can do different jobs within the same chart at the same time. Also, by eliminating most of the paper and changing our processes, we freed up a lot of storage space in the preop area.”

SIS Charts includes a mobile component that improves access to information for SOSC’s physicians, some of whom practice about 15 miles from the ASC. “Let’s say there is an after-hours request from the physician to add on a surgery, the cloud-based system can be accessed off-site,” said Michelle Sloan, the ASC’s director of nursing. “In the past, if we were closed, nobody could access that surgery information. Now, the doctor can log onto the physician desktop and pull up the patient’s chart. There are definitely advantages to being able to access that information anywhere, anytime.”

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Patients and their families also are reaping direct benefits. SIS Exchange, which is built into SIS Complete, makes it easy for patients to log on before and after surgery to review instructions and answer questionnaires. Patients’ answers feed directly into SIS Charts for nurse review and verification. 

On the day of surgery, SIS Charts Tracker patient tracking boards keep everyone apprised of patient status. “For families, the patient tracking boards in the waiting room make it easy to understand at a glance the current status of their loved one. Nine times out of 10, we don’t have to educate families on what they are looking at. It is very intuitive,” Sloan said. “For staff at the front desk, there’s a lot of good data at their fingertips to help them understand the flow of the day. As we become bigger and busier, and our facility expands space-wise, it will be even more crucial for us to know where someone is at any given time. The tracker boards help with that.”

We are able to work more efficiently...multiple people can do different jobs within the same chart at the same time. Also, by eliminating most of the paper and changing our processes, we freed up a lot of storage space in the preop area.”

Elizabeth Conto

Business Office Manager, SOSC

Thanks to the ASC management side of SIS Complete, SOSC leaders say the scheduling process has improved over the previous system due, in part, to the ability to easily adjust the schedule. “We have some physicians and anesthesia providers who want certain cases first. Sometimes a patient makes a special request, or there is an issue with a piece equipment. There are a lot of moving parts and pieces,” Sloan explained, noting the challenges of scheduling in a complex surgical environment. “The schedule in SIS Office is very simple to move around to accommodate these needs, which is a huge time saver.”

OR Board Tracker

Another time saver, and a boost to OR efficiency, is the ability for schedulers in the physician clinics to use SIS Link to view a personalized version of the ASC schedule and request cases during their available block times. “The clinic staff say the ability to submit online case requests has improved their workflow,” Conto said. “It is convenient for them to find a place to put a patient on the schedule. They can see in real time what their actual case load looks like for any given day and then fill in the holes to maximize the block time they have.”

While SOSC uses SIS Revenue Cycle Services to manage all aspects of the ASC’s billing. Conto, as the business office manager, remains very engaged with the billing process. She said she uses the trackers in SIS Office to follow the workflow from insurance verification through collections. “I can use the ‘Cases to Code’ tracker, for example, to see that cases are being completed and coded in a timely manner,” Conto said. “That follows all the way through the revenue cycle process.”

The implementation of SIS Complete has paid off for SOSC in many ways, including leveraging its electronic charts to facilitate a recent joint state and Medicare survey. “I showed the surveyor how to drive SIS Complete. After a five-minute demo, she took the reins and was able to get everything she needed for the chart audit,” Conto said. “That obviously speaks to the ease of use. She was very complimentary of the chart and documentation.”

I showed the surveyor how to drive SIS Complete. After a five-minute demo, she took the reins and was able to get everything she needed for the chart audit. That obviously speaks to the ease of use."

Elizabeth Conto

Business Office Manager, SOSC