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Objectives
Patients expect efficiency and convenience when
they need an outpatient procedure. They also expect
that operations are efficient, which translates into
lower cost of care. This is the platform under which
ambulatory surgery centers have sprung up across
the country.
We were fortunate in 2001 when we built our Center
for Outpatient Services (COS) that we were able to
design to meet these needs. However, we have
learned a lot since then related to additional
opportunities to improve the environment to continue
to strive to meet those expectations. Thus our
objectives for this design, aligned with our key
performance indicators (KPIs outlined in the cover
letter) were to:
• Create a destination of choice for outpatient
procedures
• Provide efficient work low for
staff and surgeons
• Eliminate unnecessary
redundancy of resources
(equipment, supplies)
Process
The design team included our surgery leaders and
staff, with input from our surgeons. Many hours were
spent designing optimal patient and staff flow with an
eye toward not only access and convenience, but
also importantly, patient and family comfort. Our
initial design plan combined inpatient and outpatient
surgeries.
We then became aware that many insurance
companies are looking to guide their enrollees to
ambulatory centers to receive their procedures,
based on the assumption of lower cost care.
Research was done to assure we fully understood the
specific facility requirement of ambulatory surgery
centers, and we re-designed our new facility to meet
these while still seeking to gain more efficiencies and
patient and family comfort.
Centers of Excellence:
Ambulatory Surgery
BAY AREA MEDICAL CENTER PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT 2016 • PAGE 6
• A separate
parking lot and
entry with a
vestibule staffed
by greeters and
transported
• Large waiting area with a
nutrition center