Improving ambulatory endoscopy center performance

The key to improving ambulatory endoscopy center (AEC) performance revolves around implementing certain key activities while at the same time consistently measuring and reporting specific mission-critical metrics throughout the organization. Although many of these key activities could be described as “business fundamentals,” the impact of health care reform will be driven home within the AEC environment as reimbursement transforms from the purely fee-for-service model to other alternate reimbursement arrangements. Although other contributions to this issue focus on potential future reimbursement models in more detail, a focus on quality and cost-effectiveness is a common theme in most potential new reimbursement mechanisms. In the historical AEC environment, procedural volume has always been King; his Queen is room utilization. These factors are undoubtedly the two key drivers of performance within the center today and will remain so in the future. However, all kingdoms need their knights of the round table and this article focuses on those elements that assist in driving financial, operational, and clinical performance. These same elements will prove critical in tomorrow's AEC reimbursement environment that transforms as the result of various health care reform initiatives.