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July/August 2005

In this month's issue:

The High Cost of Not Owning an Endoscopy Center
Avoiding Accreditation Agony - Part 2
A Profile in Profitability - Novato Endoscopy Center

The High Cost of Not Owning an Endoscopy Center

You know it’s the right thing to do. Maybe you’ve even made plans with your colleagues. Yet despite this, you still don’t have your own ambulatory endoscopy center. Why?

It’s probably because you are already very busy running your practice. But waiting to open a center can have the significant consequences:

Loss of substantial added income
Physicians who partner with EndoCenter Partners usually recoup their initial investment after their center has been operating for one year. After that, each physician can receive substantial additional monthly income from facility fees for the procedures he/she is already performing. That’s passive income. As a hard-working professional, why not increase your income without increasing your workload?

Because the planning and development process usually takes a year to complete, every year of inaction costs you two years of additional income – one for the year that has just passed and another for the year required to plan and develop a center.
Lack of an improved lifestyle
The facility fees collected by your center can add considerably to your professional income. And center ownership can make it easier for you to schedule procedures. Owning a center gives you more money and time to use as you see fit. You can decide to spend more time with family and friends or pursuing your personal interests. Or you can elect to see more patients. Regardless, you’ll have the tools to create a lifestyle that better meets your specific needs.

EndoCenter Partners can help you quickly realize the benefits of owning an endoscopy center. To learn more, visit endocenterpartners.com or call 866.871.3676 or 650.496.4130.

Avoiding Accreditation Agony - Part 2

In our last issue, we explained how

experienced leadership,
sufficient preparation time
developing center-specific policies & procedures

can make a world of difference when preparing for an on-site survey. This time we will look at three more ways that you and your team can avoid accreditation woes.

Detailed charting
Checked your medical charts lately? You should. Incomplete, sloppy charts may indicate other aspects of your facility’s operations also are not receiving adequate attention. What should you look for? The patient’s allergy status, even when the patient has no known allergy, should be noted. All papers should be securely fastened to the chart, ensuring that nothing will be lost and confidentiality will not be compromised. No blanks should be left on the forms. Appropriate signatures should back all patient sign-outs and orders, including verbal orders. The accreditation surveyor will be looking for neat, complete patient charts that properly reflect the high level of care your facility strives to provide.
Complete credentialing
Credentialing, properly done, involves a lot of detail work, including license verification and updating, verification of malpractice insurance, DEA controlled substance certification, and documentation of training on facility procedures. Re-credentialing is also required every two years. All of this makes credentialing a time consuming and somewhat tedious task. Sufficient resources have to allocated to ensure it is done right. You cannot just photocopy the state licenses for your facility’s MDs, RNs, LPNs, or CRNAs and pop them into your files. Each license must be verified directly with the state to make sure it is current, valid, and that no restrictions or sanctions have been assigned. Plus, while it may be tempting to use a local hospital’s credentialing file for an MD, your facility must have its own credentialing process.

If the MD gives written consent, you can use the hospital’s file as a starting point, but you still must independently verify its contents.
Appropriate quality improvement studies
Quality improvement studies are important not only to the accreditation process but also to the success of your facility. When planning a study, make sure there are clear objectives and delve into issues that affect cost of care, administrative, and clinical issues. Use real outcomes data, follow through with a careful analysis, and allow sufficient time to take corrective action. Then collect more data over several weeks – or a reasonable amount of time – to make sure the problem actually has been corrected.

At EndoCenter Partners, our in-house experts have successfully guided dozens of centers through the accreditation process. As our partner, we will manage all aspects of your center’s JCAHO accreditation.

A Profile in Profitability – Novato Endoscopy Center

For several years Dr. John Jolley of San Rafael, California had dreamed about setting up his own endoscopy center, but he thought it would be a very difficult and time consuming project. He knew another group of doctors in the area had set up a center on their own, without the assistance of a management partner. Those doctors discovered that this approach involved a staggering amount of work and the project took between three and four years to complete. Like many busy gastroenterologists, Dr. Jolley wasn’t looking for ways to increase his workload, regardless of the advantages of having his own center.

Dr. Jolley shared call with Dr. Barbara Nylund-Morgan and Dr. Lawrence Mazzotta, two gastroenterologists in nearby Novato. When Dr. Mazzotta was approached by representatives of EndoCenter Partners about becoming a partner in his own endoscopy center in Marin County, he recommended that Jolley and Nylund-Morgan be asked to join in the venture.

After some discussion between EndoCenter Partners and the three doctors, a final partnership agreement was signed. To find a suitable location for the new facility, the doctors and EndoCenter Partners collaborated with a knowledgeable commercial realtor.

Following a six-month search, a site was selected in Novato that was near the offices of Drs. Nyland and Mazzotta and involved only a short drive for Dr. Jolley and his patients.

Build-out of the facility required another six months. But as Dr. Jolley noted, the process was faster and completely painless compared to the experience of his colleagues who had opened a center on their own. "EndoCenter Partners did everything for us. It was completely turnkey. I guess I delayed the decision to have a center because I never thought it could be this easy or the results would be so great."

"My only regret is that I didn't open a center years ago. If I had, maybe now I would be retired and living in the south of France!"
–John J. Jolley, MD

Owning an endoscopy center can provide you and your staff with an attractive, well-equipped facility in which to deliver high quality care for your patients. As well as a source of pride, it can generate significant income for you and your fellow physician partners.

To learn EndoCenter Partners can help you own a profitable endoscopy center, visit endocenterpartners.com or call 866.871.3676 or 650.496.4130.