software and important management tool that allows measurement and ... trackNOW©, which can be used by medical leadersh
We’re Improving Operational Performance with Award-Winning Turnkey Anesthesia Services Baptist Health Montgomery, Ala. Baptist Health serves the people of central Alabama with a renewed emphasis on helping them reduce their risk of illness and disease while teaching them to live healthier lives. Baptist Medical Center South is a 454-bed acute care regional referral center and Baptist Health’s largest facility. The 685-bed system was named a 2012 Thomson Reuters 15 Top Health System, while Baptist Medical Center East ranked a Top 100 Hospital by Thomson Reuters in 2012.
Premier Anesthesia is a national anesthesia management and consulting company with experience serving customers of varied sizes and complexities, including small rural hospitals, large metropolitan health systems and major university medical training programs. They are solely focused on helping their clients build and manage cutting-edge anesthesia services at the system, facility and provider levels. Premier Anesthesia manages more than 400 anesthesiologists and CRNAs across more than 200 locations daily, performing more than 180,000 anesthetic services annually.
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Challenge Baptist Health’s first priority is providing the highest quality of care to patients and their families, a commitment that includes keeping costs down as services are expanded to meet the community need. Providing the highest quality of care also means embracing new advancements that can shorten treatment and recuperation times.
Solution Premier Anesthesia’s local leadership has worked in tandem with Baptist Health to provide high-quality care since 2002. The Novation-contracted supplier is an award-winning national anesthesia management and consulting company that provides full turnkey anesthesiologist and certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA) services for the health system. Premier Anesthesia offers solutions with proven methodologies, processes and proprietary technologies. With a heavy focus on correct staffing coverage and making the most of anesthesia assets, the supplier has developed Evidence-Based Staffing, a proprietary software and important management tool that allows measurement and tracking of operating room utilization and clinical productivity. Premier Anesthesia also offers trackNOW©, which can be used by medical leadership and hospital administration to ensure optimal staffing. “By being able to match room utilization needs with actual staffing, you can be more efficient and cost-effective in the OR,” said Kerry Teel, Premier Anesthesia president. “Our software tools provide us with the necessary information to make good, sound business decisions about both the business and clinical applications of the practice.” “We’ve tasked Premier Anesthesia with trying to be as efficient and cost-conscious as possible, and they’ve used their tools to continually meet that request,” said Karen McCaa, vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer at Baptist Medical Center South.
“In our most recent physician satisfaction survey, Premier Anesthesia ranked in the 90th percentile, and our chief medical officer is very complimentary of them. He said they’re creative with new ideas and open to listening to concerns.” Karen McCaa Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer Baptist Medical Center South
Dr. James V. Harper, Premier Anesthesia Montgomery’s president, serves as Baptist’s chief of anesthesia and a member of what McCaa calls its “very robust” surgical value analysis team. “Any time there is an opportunity to standardize on a product or contain costs, the committee considers that product by going through our checklist of requirements,” McCaa said. “Premier Anesthesia has been great to work with in this regard, and they’ve been extremely open and willing to trial new products.” The supplier also purchases 100% of its anesthesia products through Novation contracts, further reducing Baptist’s supply costs. “Premier Anesthesia’s local leadership, including Dr. Harper and Brian Norris, vice president, operations, have been very willing to look at Novation’s offerings, because they know that any time we can purchase through Novation, it results in additional savings for the hospital,” McCaa said.
Results In late 2012, Premier Anesthesia was recognized by MGMA-ACMPE for its success at Baptist Health. Their report, Performance and Practices of Successful Medical Groups: 2012 Report Based on 2011 Data, identified Premier Anesthesia as a “better performer” because of its superior operational performance compared with similar medical group practices nationwide. The report profiles medical practices that have demonstrated success in one or more areas: profitability and cost management; productivity; capacity and staffing; accounts receivable and collections; patient satisfaction; and managed care operations. Robin Barca, senior vice president and chief operating officer for Baptist Health, said, “This recognition of Premier Anesthesia certainly represents the dedication and contribution we see on a daily basis from their physicians and staff at Baptist Health. We consider them a reliable partner in the superior surgical care we provide our community.”
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According to McCaa, Premier Anesthesia has a strong customer focus on physicians, as well as patients. “Dr. Harper, Brian Norris, and Beverly Garrett, chief CRNA, look at time constraints, scheduling—anything that can be done to help make the physicians more efficient,” she said. “In our most recent physician satisfaction survey, Premier Anesthesia ranked in the 90th percentile, and our chief medical officer is very complimentary of them. He said they’re creative with new ideas and open to listening to concerns.” The supplier’s CRNA turnover rate is less than 4%, and its Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) measures—a Joint Commission core measure set—are consistently high. Premier Anesthesia assigned a representative to help Baptist Health achieve the 90th percentile in the SCIP measures. “We’ve been very successful in those efforts,” McCaa said, referring to its 2012 Healthcare Advantage Award from Thomson Reuters for extraordinary improvement in business line performance/health and clinical outcomes. McCaa believes that Baptist Health’s trend toward excellence will continue, due largely to its partnership with Premier Anesthesia. “Premier Anesthesia’s anesthesiologists and CRNAs are ingrained in our medical community and this town,” she said. “They’re close with our medical staff, and we definitely think of them as employees here at Baptist.” Baptist Health will continue reaching for its goal to be in the top 10% of hospitals in the nation with projects like the Lean Six Sigma committee recently launched by Premier Anesthesia to analyze and benchmark OR turnover times. The Novation-contracted supplier is a critical part of Baptist’s ability to reach that goal, and according to McCaa, “we couldn’t do it without them.”
