Michael Skehan, MD, senior vice president, senior physician executive and CMO for Stuart, Fla.-based Martin Health System, and Sonya Pease, MD, CMO of TeamHealth Anesthesia, shared how to go about implementing a perioperative surgical home in a hospital setting at the Becker's Hospital Review 6th Annual Meeting May 7.
Perioperative surgical homes provide a way of coordinating care between primary care and specialized physicians, surgeons, hospital staff and patients. The care model includes educating patients and their families about surgery before the actual procedure and following them through the entire discharge process.
These surgical homes can help improve patient satisfaction and outcomes, enhance hospital efficiency, reduce surgical delays and cancellations, ensure proper patient documentation and record-keeping throughout the process, and provide an experience that is relaxing and positive.
Addressing gaps in care is one of the major advantages of surgical homes, according to Dr. Pease
"For instance, I'd say 90 percent of patients arriving at the hospital for surgery have never been contacted by an anesthesiologist or the hospital prior to the day of surgery," said Dr. Pease. "There is a huge gap and a huge opportunity in preoptimizing patients before they even come into the hospital."
For hospitals considering this patient care model, here are five things to know, as outlined by Dr. Skehan and Dr. Pease.
1. Having the support of the C-suite, as well as a change manager or performance improvement leader to head efforts, is crucial.
2. Post-acute care coordination is another area hospitals need to spearhead to reduce readmissions and ensure the success of the surgical perioperative home.
3. Creating actionable data on post-operative metrics can help drive physicians, surgeons, anesthesiologists and other providers to align with the surgical perioperative home model of care.
4. By implementing pre-anesthesia testing processes as part of a surgical home, hospitals can get rid of redundant testing and reduce charges.
5. Hospitals can align the goals and efforts of providers across the care continuum and across service lines with perioperative surgical home core measures.