A Note from Dr. Steele

In 1995, I concluded that the delivery system for providing care to total joint surgery patients at my hospital was neither effective and efficient nor patient and family friendly. A new model of care was needed. So I developed a new model that focuses on the continuum of care, including integrated office procedures, improved patient education, a dedicated unit and staff, group activities, standardized processes, family involvement, constant patient feedback, outcomes measurements, and physician-hospital collaboration.

The following results were obtained:

• The quality of the care of these patients was improved.
• The staff who worked on the unit was retained, and it became easy to recruit others to work there.
• The operational efficiency and productivity increased.
• The profitability of total joint surgery increased.
• Our market share went up significantly.
• We became a Destination Center.
• And... patient, staff, and physician satisfaction increased dramatically.

More than a decade later this model of care has been customized, refined, and is continuously being improved. This has fostered a culture change where patients, physicians, nurses and hospitals truly collaborate and trust each other. We have transformed an impersonal institution into not just a "Center Of Excellence" but a "Home" for our patients and staff. Our success in joint surgery encouraged us to implement similar centers in spine (1998) and vascular surgery (1999). Now you, too, can have a "Destination Center for Superior Performance" in your institution.

Since 1995 hospitals and surgeons have visited us to experience this new model of care. I have yet to find a hospital or surgeon that wasn't enthusiastic about it. A few hospitals and surgeons successfully reproduced this model or realized the results that we experienced. Unfortunately, most of them went home with enthusiasm but never had the time, skill, experience or materials to implement the programs successfully.

I compare the development of a destination center to like building a house.

Assessment of your facility vs. center of excellence criteria

Architect the development plan

Assemble the program, and develop the materials

Assure that the systems for ongoing improvement are in place

Our expert staff has successfully built dozens of these centers. We will help you implement your center and hurdle the many barriers.

Our goal is to change the paradigm to Patient Focused Care.

• Now... You can improve quality, increase patient satisfaction, differentiate yourself from your competitors and build collaboration between the hospital and surgeons.
• Now... You can create a better hospital experience for your physicians, nurses and patients, enhance their rapid recovery, increase word of mouth referrals and establish an "Effective Office" that saves time for your surgeons.

Why is it important to build destination centers in healthcare today?

Patient satisfaction with healthcare is eroding and patients are shopping for surgeons and hospitals that can differentiate themselves. Costs consume more of the GNP and hospital margins grow thinner each year. Hospitals and surgeons are competing instead of collaborating.

Destination Centers are "just what the doctor ordered and just what the patients need". They consistently exceed patient expectations, improve efficiency, produce measurable quality outcomes, increase both volume and revenues, and create a culture of teamwork between the hospital and physicians.

MS&A provides the leadership and the opportunity to maximize your potential for operational efficiencies, financial growth through reduction of overhead and costs, and enhanced branding and community awareness.

We understand your problems

• Patients are shopping
• Costs continue to rise
• Reimbursement is flat
• Physicians have choices
• Nurses are scarce
• Competition is intense

We understand the solutions

• Increase patient, employee, and physician collaboration and satisfaction
• Focus efforts on a few profitable service lines
• Create a "specialty hospital within a hospital"
• Implement a comprehensive model of care that enhances quality and reduces costs
• Implement systems for data collection and ongoing improvement
• Partner with physicians, insurance companies, business and patients.

As an orthopedic surgeon and a hospital administrator, I am able to bring proven success in joint replacement and surgical practice transformation that focuses on delivering the highest possible quality of patient care. MS&A has developed and continues to refine comprehensive programs that optimize performance across a balanced set of desired outcomes. The programs have proven that significant economic benefits can be realized through the implementation of a Destination Center of Superior Performance.

Marshall K. Steele, MD
President and CEO