The 8-Step Software Evaluation Checklist

Ep. 118: Kevin Turner – The 8-Step Software Evaluation Checklist

Here’s what to expect on this week’s episode. 🎙️

Selecting new software for your ASC?

On the podcast this week, Kevin Turner, Sr. VP of IT & Analytics at HealthCrest Surgical Management, walked us through the 8 essential steps he uses to evaluate and implement software across their network of ASCs. It’s the same process he’s used for decades and it helps avoid missteps, delays, and unhappy stakeholders.

Here’s the breakdown:

1. Define Business Needs & Objectives: What problem are you solving, and what does success look like?
2. Assemble a Cross-Functional Team: Involve IT, ops, finance, and end users early.
3. Gather & Prioritize Requirements: Build a scorecard of must-haves, nice-to-haves, and optional features.
4. Research Potential Vendors: Use your scorecard to narrow the list before you take a demo.
5. Evaluate with a Structured Scorecard: Trial the top contenders, collect references, and validate workflows.
6. Assess Integration, Security, and Compliance: Ensure interoperability and regulatory fit (HIPAA, APIs, HIE, etc.).
7. ️Review Costs & Negotiate Contracts: Include licensing, training, SLAs, and total cost of ownership.
8. Pilot, Test, and Finalize: Roll out with confidence, flag last-minute gaps, and ensure team buy-in.

Listen to the full episode to hear Kevin’s real-world examples and other lessons learned.

Episode Transcript

[00:00:00] Welcome to this week in Surgery Centers. If you are in the ASC industry, then you are in the right place every week. We’ll start the episode off by sharing an interesting conversation we had with our featured guest, and then we’ll close the episode by recapping the latest news impacting surgery centers.

We’re excited to share with you what we have, so let’s get started and see what the industry’s been up to.

Erica: Hi everyone. Here’s what you can expect on today’s episode. Kevin Turner is the Senior Vice President of IT and Analytics at Health Crest Surgical Management. He has been in it for over 30 years and has been through the software evaluation process countless times. Kevin shares with us his repeatable proven eight step process that anyone can use to guide their software decision.

So whether you’re choosing your first system or replacing a legacy tool, this structured approach will help you navigate the process with confidence [00:01:00] with so many vendors and features to consider. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, but the step-by-step process will keep you focused on what matters most and make sure all stakeholders are happy with the decision.

In our news recap, we’ll cover the DOJs Anti-Competitive Regulations Task Force ascension’s acquisition of AmSurg, the biggest opportunity for growth in ASCs right now, and of course, and the new segment with a positive story about a nurse who uses her personal tragedy to provide once in a lifetime care.

I hope everyone enjoys the episode and hears what’s going on this week in surgery centers.

Erica: Hi, Kevin, welcome to the podcast.

Kevin: Thank you for having me on board.

Erica: Before we get started, can you please share a little bit about yourself and about health Crest with our listeners? I.

Kevin: Sure. My name’s Kevin Turner and I have been in it for 30 years. [00:02:00] All on the infrastructure side, so from help desk to engineering, to architecture, security doing audits, all of those types of things.

And the last 15 years has been pretty exclusively in the medical field. Our company is a medical management company similar to other ones that you’ve heard. We have a couple dozen ASCs kind of spread throughout the United States, and that’s what we do. We manage their it, we manage their operations, all of those types of things.

Erica: Thank you and I’m very excited to have you on today to talk us through your eight step process to selecting new software. Obviously HST is on the software side of the house, so we have worked with thousands of ASCs as they go through this process, and a lot of times we’re working with a SC leaders who may be going through it for the first time.

So I think sharing a structured approach will be super valuable for them. So let’s get right into it. What is step one of your eight step [00:03:00] process?

Kevin: Sure. It’s not my eight step process. It’s the eight step process. Sure. This is the standard process that’s used to select any software.

It doesn’t have to be your EMR. Doesn’t have to be anything in particular. It could be what selecting which word processor you want to use. It can be anything like that. But the process starts with defining business needs and objectives. So essentially you are trying to. Identify what specific problems the software needs to solve.

Clarify what success looks like both functionally and strategically, and you wanna align the software goals with business priorities and long-term vision. Essentially the idea is that you have a problem, whether it’s a manual process or it’s a compliance issue, or whatever, and you need a piece of software that will solve that problem for you.

The first thing you need to do is actually understand the scope of the [00:04:00] problem that you’re trying to solve.

Erica: Got it. And really quick, who typically, so when we’re selecting software, you obviously have, the person leading the project, the person maybe spearheading, let’s say, it is an EMR.

The person who really wants it and has maybe done it previously is, are they the person usually defining those business needs? Are they bringing in a team with them?

Kevin: Essentially that takes us to step two, which is assembling a cross-functional selection team.

Erica: Perfect.

Kevin: And the idea behind it is that yes, generally speaking, it can be one person that identifies the issue saying, Hey, we need to solve this.

Particular problem. Oftentimes it’s a group of people like you’re selecting a new EMR software. Obviously you’ve got different people from different groups that have different interests in what this is gonna look like and how it’s gonna be done. So that assembling a cross-functional team you want to bring.

People from IT, [00:05:00] operations, finance, and end user groups. You want a really diverse team that it covers the technical, operational, and the business needs in this process. You don’t really wanna leave anybody out. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in a meeting and someone says, oh hey, we bought this new piece of software.

You need to implement it. Your it. Okay, why weren’t we involved in the software process? And then come to find out you need a half million dollars of hardware to run this software that no one, thought of or included. So having the right people in the room when you’re starting this project and being able to define what you’re needing is probably one of the most important aspects of the entire process.

Erica: Sure. And I would imagine that team would often go back to. The, step one, the business needs, needs and objectives as you’re going through this process to say, Hey, are we going off track, or, this is our bible of what we’re looking at.

Kevin: Yes. [00:06:00] Generally speaking, this group is gonna define the scope.

They, the problem has probably already been identified that you’re trying to solve, but this group is going to define the scope of what you’re actually going to do with the software.

Erica: Perfect. Okay, so we’ve defined business needs and objectives. We have our team on board. What is step three?

Kevin: So step three I consider to be the most important step.

This is gathering requirements and prioritizing features. This is often the process that gets dropped or not completed thoroughly, and thus you have these softwares that are implemented that don’t do what the sales guy said it was going to do doesn’t actually fill your needs. You end up building more manual processes than you had before to use the product.

So you need to develop a comprehensive list of required features, integration needs, and performance expectations. So you’re gonna build a scorecard, [00:07:00] so to speak, and you’re gonna categorize all of these needs in a must have, nice to have, or optional to assist you in your vendor evaluation. So these are all the things like ease of use that seems like a really pretty simple requirement, but you would not believe how many people don’t really think of that as a process.

And you get this clunky software that kind of does what it’s. Supposed to do, but it’s really hard to use. It could be things as simple as having a dark mode or, having a bright mode or being able to change any of the features that are in there. It could be a list of, does it have a web version or is it onsite only?

Is it cloud? Is it, can you get to it from your phone? You. Part to the items, but you need to have an entire list of all of the things. You want the software to solve. This is one of the reasons why you need a cross-functional team. You need [00:08:00] a team from all the different areas. If you’re talking about an EMR, you’re talking about hipaa, high tech, and you have to make sure that the software meets the security requirements.

Does all the users sharing a user account and password for this piece of software? You can’t do that. So this is the kind of thing that you need to walk through all of the items. You have to have or would be nice to have in the software when it’s all said and done.

Erica: Got it. Makes a ton of sense.

And what is step four after you’ve done that?

Kevin: So once you’ve identified the problem, you’ve got gathered your team, you’ve written out the scope and you’ve identified all of the requirements, this is where you start researching. All of the different software vendors that are available and identify these potential vendors.

Unfortunately, this is often where people start is step four. So it’s not uncommon [00:09:00] for, people to say, oh, hey, I found this new piece of software we need to implement, or we need to buy it. And they haven’t done the previous three steps. Now, sometimes it works out. I, you wouldn’t believe the number of times I’ve been handed a piece of software with none of the other steps being done.

Way too many dimension. One time in 30 years, it’s worked out the way it was supposed to. With none of the other things. One time in dozens and dozens of attempts. So once you’ve done the previous steps and you’ve gotten to step four, this is where you’ll take your scorecard and then you start looking at all the vendors that provide the software that you’re looking for, and then you start grading them.

Does it do. Part A, does it do part B? Does it do part C? Is it easy to use? Does it have a web interface? Does it have a phone app? All of the items that you’ve identified, and how well does it do it? Does it have a great web interface? But the. App is useless and most of your users are gonna be using a pho, the [00:10:00] phone app.

Those are the types of things that you want to grade and market and once I’ve done in the past, you can go out and Google or, ask chat GPT to give you a list. But I’ve written. Pretty extensive scorecard. Sometimes 30 to 40 lines long, and then grade one to five, one to 10 whatever you would like, add them up.

And every one of those, you go through all the vendors and you grade them. You don’t want to try to test and sample all of them. This should really come from the documentation and possibly reviews and things. You want to get down to a small list this, so this list should be the first pass to get you to a smaller list of vendors, two or three vendors that you’ll actually run some testing with, and then you do a second scorecard on your hands-on testing.

So this is a little bit of an iter iterative approach, but it’s the kind of thing. This step here will basically prove whether or [00:11:00] not this is going to work the way you expect it to.

Erica: Yeah, and I like that approach because sometimes we’ve, we we rely a lot on our feelings and vibes and relationships and things like that.

And, but actually seeing it, from a number standpoint and saying, Hey, when we actually grade these, I know we think vendor A might be better, but this sheet is telling us that vendor B is better.

Kevin: Yes, and that bleeds into the next step, which is the structured court scorecard. I got a little ahead of myself.

One of the things in here between demos and trials, make sure you get references. And you call and speak to those references or email with them the number. Usually they give you references they’ve coached, but every once in a while you’ll get a reference. Who will be like, yeah we like it, we have these kinds of issues with it.

You may still go with that piece of software, but if you’ve identified possible issues before you start. It’ll [00:12:00] make your life a lot easier. Makes planning a lot easier. This is the step where you’re validating the capabilities. You’ve gotten down to the two or three and you really wanna understand, like for instance, if you’re doing billing software, can we actually get bills out?

Will it connect to our clearing? Or is not?

This area where you start getting into the nitty gritty and piecing the elements together that will work or not work for your functions and the scope that you’ve created.

Erica: Yeah. And I personally, that’s one of the reasons why I love the ASCA forum. And also a lot of the state a SC associations have their own, state and localized forums as well.

It’s just so interesting to see how many surgery centers get on there and say, Hey, we have, this particular software with our physician office. Has anyone integrated it yet with this other software? And you’ll see dozens of replies. So to [00:13:00] your point, getting those references that aren’t given to you by the vendor is just so valuable.

Kevin: I. Yeah using the internet forums are it’s that, two minds are better than one kind of, but hundreds of them. You’ve got, this kind of group think where you can use the I can’t remember what someone calls it, like the hive mind. Where you can get better answers because you’ve, you get a bunch of different experiences.

It’s honestly, one of the things that we’ve done in the past when we do this is each of the people or all the representatives on there, maybe just one from a team, we’ll go out and do their own kind of form surfing. To bring back from their perspective. So for instance, from an it, I would have very specific questions.

If I’m hosting it in house, what kind of servers do I need? Is there lagging this? Do I have to have a specific storage area network? Is our network robust enough? If it’s cloud, it’s is it up all the time or does it have a lot of failure rates? So there’s. Various [00:14:00] questions that specific groups are going to ask.

You have your accounting people, they’re gonna ask their specific questions. Can I close the month, two, two days after the end of the month? Or do I have to wait for two weeks to do it? How are the reports are a good, are there good ad hoc reporting? Are there good canned reports or do we have to build everything from scratch kind of questions.

To be honest, not every vendor salesperson is going to be, trustworthy to tell you unlike hsts whom I’ve known for a long time. But it’s definitely one of those things that asking the end users who have experienced it are is going to be so valuable when you’re doing this.

Erica: Sure. Okay. So I know we bled into step five a little bit there, but is there anything else related to step five that you wanted to cover?

Kevin: Not really. The. One of the things is if you can, you should absolutely trial the software, a lot of them that you can’t do. For instance, if it’s a [00:15:00] local install and they’re massive installs take Workday for instance. You can’t just trial a private version of Workday, but they do have a test environment that you can go into and that you can play around with and work.

Make sure you take advantage of the trials because. It is one of those things that, especially the end users, if it’s ease of use and intuitive and they’re trying, they may oh, hey, this works great. This is pretty easy. I understand what I’m supposed to do. Or you may get the, this is impossible to use.

Everything’s backwards. This is not how our workflow works. You’ll discover a lot of those types of things in a trial, so I would definitely, absolutely recommend that you take advantage of those.

Erica: Alright, that sounds good. What is step six?

Kevin: So step six starts getting into more of the, I would say, nitty gritty of the pieces that are required that. Aren’t necessarily outlined, but they’re [00:16:00] intrinsic and that’s the integration, security, and compliance of the software. So in an EMR software, you are obviously going to be looking at Yeah it’s all secure.

The database is encrypted at rest. It’s the data secure and transit. There’s a way to share securely with outside folks. There’s way to share it securely with the patients or a patient portal, but another software that those lines are a little bit more blurred. For One of the things that people frequently do is they email patient records.

That’s okay if you encrypt them, but if you’re not encrypting them and there’s no auto encrypt, then you’re breaking the law. So you have to be very careful when you’re selecting pieces of software that may interact with data or elements that are required to be. Secured or encrypted that they function of that software is there.

So when you’re ensuring the software integrates with current systems, you need to make sure you’re [00:17:00] complying with security standards, hipaa, GDPR soc, those types of things.

And it meets the re regulatory requirements for your industry. We’re specific to HIPAA high tech, but then you’ve got F-F-I-E-C if you’re a financial and all those types of things. But if this system is going to talk to other systems. Either API or HIE for HL seven types of interface in the healthcare industry, you have to be able to know that you can interface between the systems or you can data export, import between the systems.

So along with security, the integration piece is very important. For instance, if you’re running an EMR and you’ve got a GL system, great planes or dynamics or something. You don’t want to be typing from one system to the other because that introduces errors. When you’ve got people manually typing things in, you want that data to flow from one system to the next.[00:18:00]

So those are the types of things that you need to be looking at this stage. Okay, we’ve come down to a specific piece of software or we’re down to the last couple, does it. Plug into the other systems we use from the a SC side of things. For instance, if you’ve got clinics that the doctors work at that are actually sending patients over, or you’ve got a hospital system involved and they’re using NextGen or Epic or some other piece of software and they want their the records uploaded to their system, you need to make sure that the piece of software you’re picking will interface with their systems appropriately.

Erica: Yep. And I think that just goes back to assembling the right team as well. ’cause I can’t tell you how many times we’ve got to the end of step seven, which we’ll talk about next, or, and another integration question comes up, or, oops, we forgot this one. And now we’re, I don’t wanna say back to square one, but we have some more work to do.

All right. Bring us to step seven.

Kevin: So essentially you’ve come down to [00:19:00] the final software, so to speak, the one that you’ve decided is going to run your business, or you’re going to use corporately or whatever. Now it’s time to review all the costs and negotiate contracts. You’re gonna have some idea at this point of what the costs are gonna be.

You’ll ask that. Early on because you wanna make sure that it’s within budget, when you’re doing the financial analysis piece or when you’re doing the actual selection criteria. This is where you’re actually gonna start negotiating though, because are you going to be in this for the long term?

Are you wanting to just do this for a year? Some vendors require a minimum of three years, especially if there’s a lot of front setup, like an EMR system or even longer. So this is where you’re gonna go through the process of. The calculating your total cost of ownership. That includes licensing, implementation, training, support, negotiating contract terms, service level agreements, renewal options, and vendor responsibilities.

You wouldn’t believe the number of times I’ve been [00:20:00] in the middle of an implementation. Come to find out that the vendor has foisted everything onto the purchaser to get everything done and implemented with no help from their side. That, that’s unfortunate. It does happen. And generally speaking, the vendor’s the expert on their own software.

So if they’ve pushed it onto your user base, you could definitely have some problems. Now, it’s not always the case, but it does happen. You wanna make sure that you understand all of that. And truth be told that can you afford the software? You know there is a lot of hospitals that like to go on Epic, but EPIC is the most expensive hospital software in existence and I.

It’s one of those things that you should never start a project. This is the golden rule of projects. Never start a project. You cannot stop. If you can’t kill it midway through, don’t start it. That’s always a bad sign. That means you’ve done something that [00:21:00] is, is just, you don’t wanna put your organization at risk for a failed project.

Erica: Yep. That makes a ton of sense. Alright, what is our final step eight.

Kevin: So the final step is actually the beginning of the project, so to speak. This is where you pilot, test, and finalize it says finalize the decision, but you’ve pretty much made your decision at this point. Or maybe you’re down to two.

You’ve done all of this and you’ve got to two really, at this point, you are putting together, you’ve got your scoping document. You’ve got, you’ve made your decision, you’re ready to go, start implementation. You want to go back and put in a pause, you talk to your user group, make sure everybody’s happy with the selection, the one you’re going to pick.

Make sure you’ve validated workflows, collect any feedback and at this point, once you’ve started the implementation. You’ll most [00:22:00] likely be assigned a project manager from the vendor side of things. You’re gonna want to have a project manager on your side of things. You wanna also make sure that the vendor’s responsive.

There’s a lot of times where you start a project and the vendor just doesn’t respond in a timely fashion. We’ve had that a couple of times. Fortunately it’s not very frequently, but it has happened where we’d send an email and 10 days would go by before we’d get a response. And when you’re on a pretty tight timeline, trying to email people or call people trying to get ahold of Hey, we’ve got a question, or This isn’t working right, and you’re not getting a response from the vendor.

That can be really painful for an implementation. Any configuration changes that need to be made implementing your workflow. Sometimes you buy a piece of software and you buy it because you want to use their workflow. Sometimes you buy a piece of software that you put your workflow into. So those are the kinds of things that you are gonna work on and work [00:23:00] through getting those figured out.

This is where you may actually find that, hey, one of the two that we’re looking at can’t do this very specific piece. You’ve gone through all the testing, you’ve done all these things, and you’ve basically come to the last stop, and you’re like, oh, we have a problem. So these are the kinds of things at this point where these should be mostly ironed out.

I I think I’ve maybe had one time where we’ve gotten to this point where we’ve had a pretty heavy roadblock. Unfortunately we’ve had to go through that roadblock and it was not one of the happier moments of everybody’s lives at that point. But we did get through it and we did make it work, but it ended up being a lot more work than we anticipated.

So from this point, this is the step of, we’ve finalized everything and now we’re gonna go to a rollout, if at all [00:24:00] possible, you should absolutely stage or stagger a rollout if you can. Sometimes you can’t. Sometimes it’s the software is. Company wide, it’s a one. Putting in an EMR can be difficult to deploy to departments.

ASCs are generally pretty small, so it’s just all or nothing for that. Sometimes if you’re a larger organization, you can deploy it. If you’re deploying new software, you can deploy it for one department. Make sure that everything works the way you. You expect it to make sure your configurations are working, making sure your integrations are working.

Sometimes it, again, it’s all or nothing, and you just have to work through all the issues as they come up.

Erica: Sure. Yeah, and I think I just, I think going through this process too, or having a structured approach will help ASCs feel so much more confident by the time they get to this step as well, versus just having come up with a process themselves or feeling like they’re winging it and then they get to this final step and they’re getting cold feet.

It’s Nope, we’ve done all the necessary steps [00:25:00] and, everyone can feel good about where we’re at.

Kevin: Yeah, I’m, every software deployment process, project, there’s going to be issues. But following these steps are, it’s going to minimize, or you’re at least going to identify if and when you’re going to have issues and you’ll be prepared for them.

It’s the old if you’re not planning. You’re planning to succeed, you are planning for failure. It’s that mentality of making sure that you’ve done all your homework before you start, before you get knee deep into a deployment, and then you’ve realized this is literally not gonna work for our organization.

And I’ve had that happen. I’ve had to back out of a deployment. I was basically given a piece of software, Hey, you gotta deploy this. I’m like, okay, where’s the discovery map? Who’s the team? What’s the, oh no, we’re not gonna do any of that. I’m not joking. That was, I have an email from the CEO with that in there, and it [00:26:00] was an unmitigated disaster.

It almost caused the facility to fail and I cannot stress enough. Even if you don’t follow this process, follow a process, do your due diligence. Make sure you understand what you’re getting into. You don’t wanna be surprised by costs. You don’t want to be surprised by implementations.

You don’t want to be surprised by having to buy a bunch of hardware you weren’t expecting to, make sure you understand the scope and scale when you’re doing this. And even if it’s a little painful, you’ll succeed.

Erica: Love it. All right, Kevin, we do this every week with our guests. What is one thing our listeners can do this week to improve their surgery centers?

Kevin: So I would recommend, and I know this is a pain in the butt, but make sure you’ve updated your IT policies and procedures. It’s one of those things that’s pretty, pretty much on the [00:27:00] back burner of everyone’s list, and I know a lot of times the administrators just cruise through them once a year to make sure, hey, I’ve touched my policies, but this year is a big year.

OCR and CMS are updating HIPAA high tech, and there’s gonna be a whole new set of things that are gonna be required. Now, technically speaking, they’re already in the law, but because of the way it was written and the way the final rule was produced in 2018, there’s been a lot of failures and from an audit perspective, from ocr viewpoint.

So they’re going back to. Changes were introduced. They were put out for request for comments. That process, I think ended March 7th, March 17th, sometime in March. And they’re reviewing all of the comments now. So we expect sometime before the end of the year that they’re going to make all [00:28:00] of the changes official.

You can go out to the CMS OCR website and it will actually list them. It’s pretty legal ease. A lot of text, but your policies and procedures are gonna have to be updated. I would say wait till those come out and make sure that you get them done in a timely fashion. But one of the requirements that we know is going to make it is they’re gonna absolutely require you to have your.

Data documented in a, basically a Visio chart. So where is your data reside? Everywhere in your environment where you’ll expect the patient data, essentially. So your policies and procedures, those documents, diagrams, make sure those are completed. You’ll have 180 days once the rule goes final, but I would say don’t wait.

I would say as soon as the rule’s final, get working on that because you don’t wanna get caught at the end of that time period.

Erica: That is great advice. Thank you so much for coming on today. We really appreciate it.

Kevin: You’re welcome. Thanks for having me.

[00:29:00]

Erica: As always, it has been a busy week in healthcare. So let’s jump right in. The US Department of Justice’s new anti-competitive Regulations Task force is putting a SC regulatory reform in the spotlight launched in March. The task force is focused on eliminating laws and policies that limit competition and ASCs.

Were quick to weigh in. From March to May, the DOJ invited public comment and multiple surgery center stakeholders spoke out against the burdens of the certificate of need laws, the Medicare inpatient only list, and the OAS cap survey. Requirement one commenter compared CON laws to McDonald’s needing permission from Wendy’s to open while another flag, the financial burden of mandated patient satisfaction surveys.

Reimbursement disparities between ASCs and Hop. Ds also drew criticism with commentators, noting the barriers they create for [00:30:00] independent centers. ASCA submitted a formal comment as well, pushing for more flexibility in converting between hop D and A SC status better payment alignment, removal of outdated CMS policies like the A SC weight scaler, and a broader A SC covered procedures list.

For ASCs, this could mark a real turning point with a federal task force. Now spotlighting a SC specific barriers, leaders have a real opportunity to shape policy. We all know that the certificate of need laws specifically have been a thorn in the side for many states for a really long time, and this could be a real opportunity finally, for these laws to be evaluated and even eliminated.

With the right reforms, ASCs could see fewer roadblocks, fair reimbursement, and a stronger competitive position in outpatient care. So make sure you stay informed and close to ASCA and your as SC state associations so you can get involved and have a say. Alright, [00:31:00] switching gears. Ascension is making a major move into outpatient care with the acquisition of AmSurg.

The Catholic nonprofit health system announced its acquiring AMS surge’s network of 250 plus ASCs across 34 states. These centers specialize in high demand services like gi, ophthalmology, and orthopedics. Key areas where patients want more flexibility, affordable, convenient care outside of the hospital.

The deal supports Ascension’s broader goal of transforming healthcare delivery by expanding access to community-based care. Now, a spokesperson for the health system declined to comment on the size of the deal. However, sources told Bloomberg that Ascension allegedly paid $3.9 billion to the provider.

AmSurg brings decades of a SC expertise, as you all know, they have strong physician partnerships and a track record of quality outcomes. Ascension plans to [00:32:00] maintain AMS surge’s physician-led joint venture model. Ensuring local clinical leadership remains central. This acquisition builds on Ascension’s strategy to adapt to the accelerating shift from inpatient to outpatient care while staying grounded in its mission of compassion and service.

So this acquisition is just another clear sign that large health systems are a laser focus on outpatient care right now. So for a SC Leaders, this validates the long-term viability of outpatient surgical care and just reinforces the value of those strong physician partnerships. And as consolidation continues, independent centers may need to double down on local relationships, operational efficiency, and niche specialties to remain competitive.

All right. Let’s switch to a Becker’s article. So four A SC leaders joined Becker’s to answer the question, what is currently the biggest opportunity for growth in ASCs? Here are their answers. So Trina Cole is the [00:33:00] administrator of St. Luke’s Surgery Center, Lee Summit, and she said, in my perspective, the biggest opportunity is the release of cases from the hospital and hospital outpatient areas such as cardiology that have been approved to be performed at the A SC level.

HST actually just released some benchmarking data for cardiovascular centers, and the average net revenue per case is $4,733, which is the second highest of all the specialties. So Trina’s advice here is definitely something to take seriously.

Greg Decons is the administrator at Boston Outpatient Surgical Suites, and he said, continue to grow organically through the hallmarks of a SC. Success, efficiency, and patient and surgeon satisfaction. Utilize technology to prevent cancellations and increase throughput.

Try and get an extra case or two in each or every day. It will definitely add up. He also added analyze costs. [00:34:00] Are your preference cards up to date? Does your staff know what to open and not to open on the table? Incentivize staff to save money through controlling costs. Work with your vendors to standardize and achieve cost savings.

And above all, ensure your surgeons have an extremely pleasant and efficient day to operate. Make them not want to operate anywhere else. And of course, the same with the patients. Wow them with their experience, and they will tell a friend. Richard Evans, vice President of Surgical Services at Bon Secor Charity Health System shared.

The biggest opportunity for a SC growth is orthopedics, urology and podiatry. The cost of the robots is easily covered with total joint replacement surgery. Now again, HSC compiled our client data and found that the average net revenue for a total joints case is roughly $16,000.

That is overwhelmingly the highest specialty with cardiovascular again coming in second with roughly $4,700 [00:35:00] per case. So Dr. Evans is correct. With the right strategic planning, the high price tag of a robot could easily be covered over time. And lastly, Tracy Helmer, administrator of Tri-City Surgical Centers shared similar advice.

Emerging technology is allowing for more and more procedures to be done in safer, less invasive, and more efficient ways. This allows for patients to consider surgery in outpatient settings. A great example is total joint replacements. Years ago, this would’ve never been possible, but now it is becoming a standard.

This is exciting and benefits patients the most. So there you have it. Some quick advice from four A SC leaders and to end our new segment on a positive note. Okay. This story starts dark, but I promise you it will end on a positive note

in 2020 while studying for finals, Rachel Stewart was rushed to the hospital with internal bleeding and a collapsed lung. Doctors discovered a [00:36:00] massive spinal nerve tumor requiring urgent intervention. The procedure saved her life, but left her paralyzed from the chest down with a T four spinal cord injury.

She paused nursing school and began a long journey of rehab therapy and personal transformation. Inspired by her mentor, Dr. Robert Harmon, who also lives with a spinal cord injury. Stewart refused to give up on nursing. She worked tirelessly to heal, relearn everyday tasks, and eventually walk again.

More importantly, she returned to school, earned her BSN, and now serves at Memorial Hermann, specializing in spinal cord injuries, the very condition she knows firsthand. Her lived experience gives her a level of empathy. Few can match. She said it’s one thing to empathize. It’s another to truly know what they’re feeling.

Her patients receive more than medical care. They receive strength, hope, and someone who deeply understands for her resilience, compassion, and unwavering dedication. [00:37:00] Rachel Stewart is the Daily Nurse’s nurse of the week. And that officially wraps up this week’s podcast. Thank you as always for spending a few minutes of your week with us.

Make sure to subscribe or leave a review on whichever platform you’re listening from. I hope you have a great day, and we’ll see you again next week.