Eliminating Disparate Systems & Driving Standardization
Surgery Partners implements HST at their facilities due to the remarkable value, turnkey options, and repeatable implementation process.
Standardizing on one solution has allowed them to:
- Track & analyze critical metrics
- Identify areas for improvement
- Improve their RCM workflows, resulting in lower denial rates, reduced days to pay, and higher patient collections
# of Centers: 180
Featured Products: HST Practice Management
Products in Use: HST Practice Management, HST eChart, HST Case Coordination
State: TN
Customer Type: Management Group
Specialties: Multi-specialty
The Challenge
Surgery Partners is a leading operator of surgical facilities and ancillary services with more than 180 locations nationwide. Their team is comprised of more than 4,600 affiliated physicians, serving more than 600,000 patients annually. Due to their substantial reach, Surgery Partners holds a highly influential and important place in the surgery center industry.
Surgery Partners grappled with the burden of operating multiple, disconnected systems across their surgery centers. The use of disjointed software solutions for tasks such as scheduling, billing, patient records, and inventory management resulted in inefficiencies and unwarranted complexities. This fragmented approach made it exceptionally difficult to establish consistent procedures and practices throughout their network of surgery centers, leading to confusion, inconsistency, and formidable challenges in effectively managing the entire network.
Recognizing the need for standardized reporting, comprehensive analytics, and key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess facility performance accurately, Surgery Partners faced a significant hurdle. Their existing systems needed more robust support for this essential aspect of their operations. Moreover, they sought a solution that would enable them to efficiently document and track critical clinical metrics, including but not limited to Operating Room Utilization, enhancing the overall quality and precision of their healthcare services.
The Solution
When Surgery Partners sought a solution for their disparate systems, their journey led them to HST Pathways, driven by factors that truly set them apart. Jeff Grimes, Senior Revenue Cycle Director at Surgery Partners, shared compelling insights into their choice. HST Practice Management emerged as the clear winner, offering remarkable value, competitive pricing, turnkey solutions, and an effortless, repeatable implementation process.
Jeff said the decision was guided by a simple but powerful principle: cost-effectiveness. HST Practice Management presented a cost-effective solution that outshone alternatives in the market. This ensured Surgery Partners could maintain stringent cost control while gaining access to valuable solutions for their facilities.
With dozens of successful implementations under his belt, Jeff underscored HST Pathways’ ease of implementation. The solution’s turnkey nature requires minimal configuration, resulting in a concise and predictable implementation timeline. No additional external resources are necessary, ensuring that disruptions to daily operations and unexpected costs are minimal. This seamless transition to new software preserves productivity and accelerates the realization of benefits, leading to a faster return on investment (ROI).
We are grateful to use a system that allows us to document and track specific metrics. This has made OR utilization and other clinical metrics easier to improve and speak to. The interaction with specific clearinghouses makes automation and revenue cycle activities more automated, resulting in reduced days to pay and increased patient collections.
Jeff Grimes
Senior Director Revenue Cycle Integration
The Results
Implementing HST Practice Management, HST Case Coordination, and HST eChart has allowed Surgery Partners to establish a standard operating platform, which has been instrumental in streamlining and standardizing their operational processes. The software’s reporting capabilities have enabled Surgery Partners to standardize their reporting, making tracking and analyzing critical metrics and KPIs easier. This, in turn, allows them to identify best practices and areas for improvement more effectively.
Surgery Partners has experienced improvements in data documentation, particularly in tracking potential clinical time savings, days to pay, patient collections, and more. This level of detail has made it easier to optimize utilization and identify opportunities for improvement, leading to potential time and cost savings. Surgery Partners can now discern best practices and pinpoint areas ripe for enhancement with greater precision and efficiency.
The leading management company has also benefited from revenue cycle improvements. HST Practice Management’s innate integration with clearinghouses, coupled with its built-in automation capabilities, has ushered in more efficient processes, lower denial rates, and enhanced patient collections, bolstering overall financial health. From 2020 to 2022, Surgery Partners experienced a 48% growth in their total adjusted EBITDA, increasing from $256.6 million to $380.2 million.
The training process, complemented by the intuitive and user-friendly navigation, has made onboarding a seamless experience for the ASC staff members who rely on these solutions daily.
I have done dozens of implementations myself. It’s very turnkey and designed to be out of the box. There are not a lot of configurations needed, and the implementation timeline is short. There’s next to no spending on extra resources to get the solution built and deployed and get the staff trained. It’s very user-friendly.
Jeff Grimes
Senior Director Revenue Cycle Integration
The Future
Surgery Partners looks forward to the ongoing collaboration with HST Pathways, a partnership already proven successful. As they move forward, Surgery Partners envisions a future where this partnership will continue to yield substantial benefits and drive operational excellence. Both parties anticipate a future filled with continued success, innovation, and collaboration as they work together to optimize their surgery centers and deliver top-quality healthcare services.