This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Report finds better practices needed for knee arthroscopy in ambulatory setting
Scheduling, registration and billing/collections need some improvements based on a recent survey.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
A study of organizational practices related to performing knee arthroscopy with meniscectomy in the ambulatory health care setting in 2008 showed patients were fairly satisfied, but organizations could do a better job of cutting or containing procedure-related costs.
The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) Institute for Quality Improvement, and reported on clinical and nonclinical aspects of knee arthroscopy procedures, according to Naomi Kuznets, PhD, managing director of the AAAHC Institute for Quality Improvement.
She said knee arthroscopy is typically high volume and the fact it is usually performed in the ambulatory setting has kept it on the Institute’s radar screen.
Best practices
“There is a growing need for best-practices information by ambulatory care facilities, as an increasing proportion of all health care procedures are performed in outpatient settings,” Kuznets told Orthopedics Today.
“Our reports illustrate that excellent ambulatory patient care depends upon knowing and adopting certain practices and procedural efficiencies. One role of institute reports is to identify and promote practices that ambulatory health care professionals can use to provide a better experience to their patients.”
The 20-page arthroscopy report addresses staffing, billing/collections, supply management, spending/costs, technology use, scheduling and patient satisfaction and contains data from six ambulatory centers that responded to a survey.
More efficient
“There continues to be opportunities to improve scheduling, patient registration, and billing/collection-associated efficiency, as well as take advantage of purchasing groups, more closely track inventory and use just-in-time ordering,” Kuznets told Orthopedics Today.
The study’s main limitation was its small sample size.
Despite that, “[It] offers ideas for greater efficiency from those providing the same types of services as orthopedic surgeons,” she said.
The study included 306 organizations that provide orthopaedic services; 64% of which indicated that they had experienced a decrease in volume of business.
“If an organization is experiencing a decrease in volume of business, this may provide staff with the opportunity to examine supply costs and negotiate or find lower supply costs,” Kuznets said.
For more information:
- Naomi Kuznets, PhD, can be reached at the AAAHC Institute for Quality Improvement, 5250 Old Orchard Road, Suite 250, Skokie, IL 60077; 847-853-6079; e-mail: nkuznets@pcipr.com.
Reference:
- For information about the 2008 Ambulatory Surgery Non-clinical Study Report — Knee Arthroscopy with Meniscectomy go to aaahciqi.org.