Identifying Key Revenue Drivers in an Ambulatory Surgery Center

"In anticipation of its new Ambulatory Surgery Center, the Mount Sinai School of Medicine's Department of Surgery engaged the Capstone team in the gather­ing and aggregating of throughput/capacity and surgical fee packages data from physician interviews, market research and the Hospital's main operating room (MOR) yearly utilization rate for outpatient procedures. The opening of the Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) in June 2008 will offer the ASC management team an opportunity to identify key revenue drivers necessary for making sound decisions about appropriate strategies needed to increase net revenue. The Capstone team created a directional revenue Excel model based on a number of assumptions, including: 1) projected physician case volume procedures; 2) patient/payor mix; 3) physician fee schedules; and 4) average length of procedures and patient recovery times. This information will assess revenue impact and the capacity of caseload vol­ume transfer from the MOR to the ASC. The use of this model will help management optimize capacity and determine baseline revenue drivers relative to future reimbursement changes. It will also allow management to better focus marketing priorities for surgeons and for patients. "