Success in today's health care environment requires much more than the traditional customer-seller relationship. In addition to providing advanced surgical products, USSC offers its
 The Long Beach Community Medical Center team (left to right): Carol Kirk, RN, BSN, Vice President, Clinical Process Management; Joyce Mellinger, Administrative Director, Finance; Patrick T. Steinhauser, Vice President, General Services; Jeff Frum, Director, Healthcare Strategies, USSC; Pat Ferguson, RN, CNOR, Director, Perioperative Services; Karolyn Morrison, Executive Vice President and COO. |
tals participating in the company's Best Practices program are finding that excel-
lent patient care and cost control can coexist.
Long Beach Community Medical Center in California is one such place. With the
combined commitment of its top management and members of the finance,
administration and surgery departments, the hospital completed its first Best Practices
program in only four weeks and with a minimum of effort. "The USSC team did most of
the work, including data collection, product inventory and number crunching," says Pat
Ferguson, RN, CNOR, Director, Perioperative Services. "We couldn't have taken on this
comprehensive project without that degree of support."
 "The USSC team did most of the work, including data collection, product inventory and number crunching," says Pat Ferguson, shown here with Jeff Frum of USSC. |
Gallbladder removal, the most common form of laparoscopic surgery, is typically the first focus of a Best Practices program. Measuring the primary cost drivers of this procedure, the Long Beach team found their costs were actually comparable with national benchmarks. However, the cost for this procedure within the hospital was found to vary widely from surgeon to surgeon. Standardization and reorganization of ancillary services created significant savings.
USSC's Best Practices program has identified approximately $166,000 in annual
savings for laparoscopic gallbladder removal alone at this hospital. These savings are
expected to grow as the lessons learned are applied to other medical and surgical
procedures at Long Beach Community. Meanwhile, at other hospitals throughout the US,
similar Best Practices programs are yielding equally compelling results.
 USSC offers customers a proprietary analytical computer program designed to reduce the cost of surgical instrumentation, operating room time, ancillary services and length of stay. The Best Practices program helped Long Beach Community Medical Center identify $166,000 in annual savings for laparoscopic gallbladder removal. |
