This article appears in the January/February print issue of Surgical Products.
Feb 6, 2014
by Lars Thording, Vice President of Marketing and Public Affairs, Intralign
With a growing aging population, and as many as 32 million Americans entering the healthcare system in 2014, the Association of American Medical Colleges estimates there will be a shortage of 91,500 doctors by 2020.
Much of the recent physician shortage conversations have been centered on a deficiency of primary care physicians, but of the estimated shortfall, roughly 46,100 will be surgeons and specialists.
With the foreseeable demand increasing at a faster rate than our current physician supply, I’m not surprised that conversations have heated up around different approaches to address the pending shortage before care delivery is dramatically impacted. Many of these dialogues involve a number of the usual suspects, strategies that have been positioned to address physician shortage issues in the past, such as the need to increase the number of residency training programs, reform scope of practice laws, expand the National Health Services Corps, develop student loan forgiveness programs and institute new staffing models.
We know there is no magic bullet to solve our seemingly ongoing physician shortage issues. However, from the list above, there is one approach in particular that is gaining steam within the surgical suite that is helping alleviate some of the mounting pressure on surgeons to meet the needs of a growing patient population.
Recently a study by RAND Corp. found that an expansion of the role of nurse practitioners and physician assistants could help eliminate 50 percent, or more, of the primary care physician shortage in the U.S. by 2025 – a concept being implemented beyond the primary care office walls in the OR.
A growth in staffing models that emphasizes better use of “physician extenders,” healthcare professionals who are licensed to practice medicine under the direction of physicians and surgeons, has emerged successfully over the past decade.
In the OR, qualified physician extenders typically are called Surgical First Assists (SFAs). SFAs are traditionally surgeons, medical doctors (MDs), physician assistants (PA-C), registered nurse first assists (RNFA) and advanced registrar nurse practitioners (ARNP). These highly trained SFAs provide advanced support that scrub techs are unqualified to provide, which helps free up the surgeons time to focus on tasks more appropriate for their level of medical training. This allows the surgeon to provide better quality of care with fewer resources and to increase surgical throughput, arguably leading to better surgeon satisfaction and better care economics for the hospital. At Intralign, our data shows the use of SFAs can reduce surgery time by 30 percent and increase surgeon throughput by 42 percent.
From a hospital-wide perspective, SFAs also help decrease costs by avoiding reimbursement barriers and lowering administrative tasks.
A few years ago, a large metropolitan hospital based on the East Coast was experiencing an increasingly heavy surgery load and a short supply of surgeons when it employed Intralign SFAs to help reduce surgery time, increase throughput and safeguard its surgical quality reputation.
Because Intralign SFAs are trained in the latest surgical techniques and devices, they can support the surgeon in many tasks. With this level of support, procedure times are shorter. Over time, this means that surgeon time and operating room time is freed up, allowing hospitals to accommodate more procedures. The exciting part of this equation is this can all be accomplished without adding more surgeon staff and without sacrificing quality.
During the first year, SFAs were added to a small fraction of procedures, which allowed the surgical team time to adjust roles and build chemistry. Once fully implemented, the SFA structure helped reduce hip and knee replacement surgery time by more than 100 hours, which is the equivalent to conducting roughly 40 arthroplasty procedures. The team also experienced nearly 500 hours of reduced general surgery time, which translates to time available to perform almost 250 additional general surgery procedures a year.
As our healthcare landscape continues to evolve, more efficient care delivery demands will call for a continued level of clinical labor specialization that optimizes surgeon involvement without impacting quality of care.
Qualified clinical staff can fill a shortage gap by providing the support needed to allow those with the highest level of certification to address the highlight level of patient needs.
Everyone understands there are many factors that need to be addressed to be able to better serve our future surgical patient’s needs, but qualified physician extenders will be critical in getting us there. The SFA profession will only grow in volume and importance, so I encourage hospital OR leadership to take a closer look at staffing models that not only help them meet patient demand, but present increased efficiency and revenue opportunities for their organization.
Category: news
CMP Pharma and Kiel Laboratories Sign Development Agreement for Two NDA Products
Farmville, NC Feb 18, 2014 – CMP Pharma (formerly Carolina Medical Products Co.) and Kiel Laboratories have signed an agreement to develop, seek regulatory approval, and commercialize two new prescription drugs. The first drugs will be directed at the general population with special emphasis on the geriatric market, followed by a product to be directed at the pediatric market.
While both drugs already exist as FDA approved solid dosage forms, CMP will be filing NDAs to obtain approval for an alternate liquid dosage form.
Commenting on the agreement, Gerald Sakowski, CEO of CMP Pharma, said, “These two products are excellent complements to our line of niche specialty pharmaceutical products. This is another chapter in our long history of developing stable, ready-to-use liquid dosage forms that make life easier on the consumer, the physician, and the pharmacist.”
CMP Pharma is a specialty pharmaceutical company located in Farmville, NC that develops and manufactures a portfolio of high-value topical and liquid oral dose pharmaceutical products. The company was founded in the early 1980s around the development of a ready-to-use liquid dosage form for sodium polystyrene sulfonate, a drug used for the treatment of hyperkalemia.
Kiel Laboratories, Inc., a privately held company established in 1991 by Dr. Jeff Kiel provides a full spectrum of drug development, regulatory, and intellectual property services. Kiel specializes in the identification of, and regulatory strategies around 505(b)(2) and orphan drug NDA submissions. Kiel Laboratories, Inc. is located in Flowery Branch, GA.
The Penlon stand at Arab Health 2014
Record numbers on the Penlon stand
Abingdon, UK Feb 18, 2014 — Arab Health in Dubai is an important annual exhibition for Penlon, as we welcome our existing distributors and potential new customers from across the Middle East, Asia and Africa. The show this year had over 3000 exhibiting companies from 63 countries, and an estimated 85,000 visitors.
Penlon had a large stand this year, in a prime location, which gave us a continuous flow of passing traffic and visitors to the stand, generating a record number of leads for new business and potential commercial partnerships.
Penlon also had a presence on the UK’s huge ABHI stand (Association of British Healthcare Industries), with a Prima 460 anaesthesia system featuring on their mock-up of an operating theatre.
We can rate this years’ Arab Health as an outstanding success for Penlon, and would like to thank the whole team for their energy, positivity and round-the-clock commitment.
“I just wanted to say thank you for all of your hard work for Arab Health over the past few weeks and months. It was truly an amazing show, with little to no time for any rest. You all worked hard in the preparation for the show along with the show itself, and we are hopeful that it will manifest into tangible results.”
Steve Moon (CEO)
Brian Moyer Receives 2013 HIMSS Chapter Leader of the Year Award!
Each year, HIMSS honors its members for their contributions to the Society, their organizations and to health information technology
Nashville, TN Feb 4, 2014 – The Tennessee Chapter of the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) announced today that its president, Brian Moyer, CPHIMS, FHIMSS has received the 2013 HIMSS Chapter Leader of the Year Award. The Chapter Leader of the Year Award recognizes significant leadership, extraordinary contributions to HIMSS Chapters, the society, and a commitment to the HIT industry. The HIMSS Board of Directors approved the selection of the award winners at its December 2013 board meeting in Orlando, Fla.
Brian serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer for GAFFEY Healthcare. He is a serial entrepreneur, having founded and grown multiple Health IT companies over the past 25 years. He is President of the HIMSS Tennessee Chapter and is a member of the HIMSS Chapters Task Force, the Nashville Technology Council Board of Directors and the IT Advisory Board for Trevecca Nazarene University.
Brian has led the fast-growing Tennessee chapter for the last year and placed a great deal of emphasis on creating structure, greater engagement, accountability and measurements within the leadership team of the chapter. He hosted several leadership retreats, developed a by-laws working group, and led multiple groups focused on chapter goals. As a result of these efforts, the chapter is one of the most profitable and well-run chapters, focused on accountability and structured engagements that led to a 40 percent growth in membership. Under Brian’s leadership, a committed and dedicated team of board members and volunteers annually produces the Summit of the Southeast conference, which hosts nearly 1000 individuals each year in Nashville, making it one of the largest HIMSS Chapter events in the country.
The Tennessee Chapter of the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) announced today that its president, Brian Moyer, CPHIMS, FHIMSS has received the 2013 HIMSS Chapter Leader of the Year Award. The Chapter Leader of the Year Award recognizes significant leadership, extraordinary contributions to HIMSS Chapters, the society, and a commitment to the HIT industry. The HIMSS Board of Directors approved the selection of the award winners at its December 2013 board meeting in Orlando, Fla.
Brian serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer for GAFFEY Healthcare. He is a serial entrepreneur, having founded and grown multiple Health IT companies over the past 25 years. He is President of the HIMSS Tennessee Chapter and is a member of the HIMSS Chapters Task Force, the Nashville Technology Council Board of Directors and the IT Advisory Board for Trevecca Nazarene University.
Brian has led the fast-growing Tennessee chapter for the last year and placed a great deal of emphasis on creating structure, greater engagement, accountability and measurements within the leadership team of the chapter. He hosted several leadership retreats, developed a by-laws working group, and led multiple groups focused on chapter goals. As a result of these efforts, the chapter is one of the most profitable and well-run chapters, focused on accountability and structured engagements that led to a 40 percent growth in membership. Under Brian’s leadership, a committed and dedicated team of board members and volunteers annually produces the Summit of the Southeast conference, which hosts nearly 1000 individuals each year in Nashville, making it one of the largest HIMSS Chapter events in the country.
The HIMSS Awards Program recognizes lifetime achievement, scholarship programs, activities or publications with honors going to individuals, groups, and organizations for significant contributions to the Society, their organizations or to the health IT profession. All recipients of a HIMSS award must be a
member in good standing of HIMSS.
South Florida Business Journal Names Oasis Outsourcing’s Mark Perlberg a ‘Power Leader’
West Palm Beach, FL Feb 4, 2014 – Mark Perlberg, President and CEO of Oasis Outsourcing, was chosen as one of the Top 100 Power Leaders by the South Florida Business Journal (SFBJ). The annual list of the Top 100 Power Leaders from Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties was published on January 31, 2014. Recipients from many companies and industries are chosen each year by the SFBJ’s editorial staff, based on their innovative ideas, savvy business acumen and their role in shaping the region’s business community.
“South Florida continues to be an excellent business climate for Oasis Outsourcing’s headquarters and we are happy to be part of the community,” said Perlberg. “I am honored to be recognized by the South Florida Business Journal and offer my congratulations to the other recipients.”
A graduate of Boston College Law School, Perlberg began his career as an attorney before moving into a series of management roles across varied industries, including business services, utilities and financial institutions. Previously an officer of the John Harland Company and COO of PRG-Schultz, Perlberg has been President and CEO of Oasis Outsourcing for more than a decade.
Precyse Awarded 2013 Best in KLAS for Transcription Services for the Second Year
Achieves the top Transcription Services ranking while offering a trifecta of HIM services, including coding, transcription and full HIM department strategic sourcing
Wayne, PA and Alpharetta, GA Feb 3, 2014 — Precyse, a leader in health information management (HIM) Performance Management and Technology, has been named Best in KLAS for
Transcription Services in the recent report titled “2013 Best in KLAS: Software & Services.” Precyse has achieved consecutive top rankings, receiving very high marks in all three categories; Sales and Contracting, Service and Support, and General, all with scores over 90. “We listened to the providers, and these are the results,” said Adam Gale, CEO and president of KLAS Research. “This report isn’t about KLAS. It is a reflection of thousands of providers who wanted to be heard and counted. That is the reason top-performing vendors should be proud of their achievements.”
The clinical documentation of the patient story is critical to the success of a healthcare facility. Without accurate, concise clinical documentation it is impossible to achieve Core Measures, to transition to ICD-10 or to establish clinical data mining to produce required statistics. Precyse’s combination of technology, processes and services accelerates turnaround time, reduces costs, minimizes capital outlay and transforms dictation into meaningful clinical information for ultimate patient care while achieving financial goals.
“I am thrilled to see Precyse honored as Best in KLAS for transcription services again this year. The continual commitment, hard work and relentless effort of our colleagues supports our vision where all meaningful information is available and helps save time, money and lives. I’m proud that we are unmatched in quality of service staff and living up to client expectations, among many other things.’” said Chris Powell, president of Precyse. “We believe that this recognition reflects the relentless focus on continual improvement. The year over year consistency of our ranking is outstanding.”
One Precyse customer on the KLAS website stated, “I do not have any gaps or shortcomings with Precyse. I have been with them since 2006. My HIM department utilizes them as a full outsource
service. I could not be more thrilled. Using Precyse was the best decision I made. They beat their contract term times by a mile. I don’t have any quality complaints or upset doctors. Transcription is a nonissue.”
Dennis W. Casey Joins Precyse Advisory Council
Nationally recognized healthcare insurance executive to lend valuable insights to leading healthcare information company
Wayne, PA and Alpharetta, GA Jan 23, 2014 — Precyse, a leader in health information management (HIM) Performance Management and Technology, has announced that Dennis W. Casey
has joined the Precyse Advisory Council (PAC). Casey, who is widely recognized as a leader in the healthcare insurance and related employee benefits business with over 37 years of experience,
recently retired from Wellpoint Inc. where he served as Senior Vice President for Individual and Group Business, overseeing operations of 13 of Wellpoint’s health insurance plans. Previously, he served as CEO of Acordia Financial Industry Benefits Inc., a publicly traded subsidiary of Indiana Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
With his industry knowledge and years of expertise, Casey was tapped to advise Precyse as it works to simplify its clients’ everyday challenges by providing holistic services and technologies that transform clinical data directly into actionable information. The Precyse Advisory Council functions as a source of high-level input and advice on the strategic positioning and expansion of Precyse’s service and technology offerings. The PAC also serves as a conduit for new business opportunities because of the extensive experience and networks developed by each of the nine council members.
“We are excited to welcome Dennis to our Advisory Council,” said Precyse Board Member Alan Weinstein, Chairman of the PAC. “As a key executive with Wellpoint, Dennis was instrumental in
promoting growth and success within that organization. We look forward to the valuable insights and perspectives he will bring to Precyse.”
Quantum Health Receives Investment from GE Ventures, Altaris Capital Partners
Columbus, OH Jan 22, 2014 – Quantum Health today announced that it has secured investment support from GE Ventures, the venture capital arm of GE, Altaris Capital Partners, and a co-investment group comprised of Steven Shulman and Lawrence Leisure, as well as strategic advisor Harlan Levine, M.D. — all of whom have a history of success growing original concepts in healthcare. These collaborative partners will further expand Quantum’s innovative approach to help consumers navigate the healthcare system that results in better health outcomes at lower costs.
Quantum Health, an organization founded with the goal of reducing confusion and unnecessary costs in a complex healthcare system, has established a unique patient care coordination model for self-insured employers that has enabled clients to enjoy industry-leading satisfaction rates and claims savings. This is achieved by guiding patients and families through the challenging healthcare system and working together with physicians to ensure proper care while eliminating costly redundancies or delays in care. GE Ventures, Altaris, and the co-investor partners will provide additional expertise and help identify new market opportunities for Quantum as it continues to grow its presence in the evolving healthcare marketplace.
“Having GE Ventures, Altaris, and our co-investors join us is further recognition of our approach to more effectively navigate the healthcare system from the consumer and patient point of view,” said Kara Trott, Chief Executive Officer, Quantum Health. “There is tremendous potential in these relationships and we are eager to begin taking our proven model to market more broadly.”
“At GE we understand how important it is for companies to provide high quality and affordable healthcare to their employees,” said Sue Siegel, CEO, GE Ventures & healthymagination. “We’ve been impressed by Quantum Health’s successful approach to helping consumers navigate the healthcare system, allowing them to access the right care with the right provider at the right time.”
“GE Ventures looks to invest in companies that provide practical and innovative solutions. Quantum Health has created a proven and trusted solution to the often confusing healthcare system with their care coordination model,” said Risa Stack, General Manager, GE Ventures, Incubations. “We’ve chosen to partner with Quantum because we believe our two companies can have an even greater impact together within the world of healthcare.”
Quantum Health, a privately held company, secured the partnerships based on its desire for greater growth. “Rather than for funding purposes, this strategic partnership is about bringing intellectual and reputational capital to Quantum Health,” Trott said.
Collectively, the new partners have a track record of success in accelerating healthcare innovation in the marketplace.
“We see an entire class of employers who will embrace Quantum’s care coordination model as a critical business asset and important employee benefit,” said Steven Shulman, co-investor, Quantum Health. “As strategic partners, our role is to facilitate and introduce Quantum to these companies and accelerate adoption.”
Sparta Systems Launches Stratas™, a Cloud Application Providing Customers Greater Control and Visibility Into Third Party Supplier Quality Operations
New Solution Can Help Companies Improve Margins by Reducing Costs of Poor Quality
Hamilton, NJ Jan 21, 2014 – Sparta Systems Inc., an industry pioneer and global leader in enterprise quality management solutions (EQMS), today announced the release of Stratas, a new cloud solution that extends the Company’s flagship quality management software, TrackWise®, beyond a customer’s four walls to external suppliers and contract manufacturers, thereby reducing risk and improving efficiency throughout the value chain.
Stratas addresses a critical marketplace need by integrating and extending quality related processes across an organization’s entire supplier and partner network. By providing third party organizations secure access to participate directly in a customer’s EQMS, Stratas eliminates the inefficient, manual methods typical in managing quality in the supply chain– enabling seamless, electronic management of the entire business process and thousands of related manual transactions annually. The result is unparalleled transparency, management and control over external quality. Coupled with the use of TrackWise Analytics, organizations will broaden their ability to conduct pro-active analysis on the entire landscape of internal and external quality data.
Stratas creates a more effective supplier quality management system by:
• Helping to reduce the likelihood of adverse quality events by enabling the orderly, consistent benchmarking of suppliers and contract manufacturers;
• Reducing errors and loss of critical information, helping to prevent non-compliance and improving security; and
• Driving stronger process regiment and shorter response times, delivering substantial efficiency improvement
“Stratas will revolutionize how companies manage quality in their supply chain, especially when you consider that more than fifty percent of product recall root causes can be attributed to supplier and contract manufacturer issues, ” said Eileen Martinson, Chief Executive Officer of the Company. “With recall costs easily averaging between $10 million and $90 million or more, organizations need to do everything they can to improve visibility into both internal and external quality, helping to ensure consumer safety while mitigating risk and litigation exposure and continuing to improve efficiency.”
Intralign provides a voice to the debate about workflow optimization. OR workflow optimization carves out order from chaos.
Excerpt from Healthcare Purchasing News article
Phoenix, AZ Jan 19, 2014 – Spend any amount of time behind the scenes in the perioperative suite, and you’ll likely find yourself amidst a whirling dervish of activity and chaos. You might even begin to wonder how surgical cases are ever successfully completed with all of the starts, stops and delays that happen during the course of the day, whether awaiting surgeons, supplies, test results or even patients. Indeed, the complexity of the OR is matched only by the variety of cases and surgical techniques performed.
Explore this area further and you’ll discover why scheduling is just one tiny piece of optimizing perioperative workflow. Intuitive systems help improve patient safety and meet quality goals, provide comprehensive data analysis and benchmarking capabilities to help improve OR utilization, increase throughput and surgical case volumes, as well as bolster physician, staff and patient satisfaction. At the heart of all these systems are real-time communication tools such as scheduling dashboards, HIPAA compliant family messaging display boards, automatic status updates, safety checklists, reporting tools and more.
Four executives from companies offering perioperative workflow management solutions talked with Healthcare Purchasing News about what makes an OR tick.
…”There are a multitude of factors that can impact perioperative efficiency, such as ineffective approaches to patient scheduling, sub-optimal OR staffing, completing paperwork, or turning over the OR between cases. To address these factors at a macro level, we believe one of the biggest ways to improve efficiency in the OR is by improving knowledge about how and where resources are used, aligning clinical and operational goals, and ensuring OR staffing that is geared to maximizing throughput and quality. ”
– Lars Thording, Vice President of Marketing and Public Affairs, Intralign