Getting Ahead of the Technology Wave
I was just thinking about the impact of the new healthcare reform bill on a hospital’s reimbursement (they will be going down, not up under this new bill) when I came across a research paper on “Computer Assisted Orthopedic Hip and Knee Surgery” which had me questioning how these two intersecting realities (emerging new technologies and lower reimbursement) will change the face of healthcare as we know it.
After reading the research paper, I was impressed with this new computer assisted orthopedic surgery (CAOS) that involves patient tailored instruments that has been proven to improve surgical outcomes incrementally. But what you might not know is that there is about a 90% success rate on hip and knee surgery today which is pretty impressive figure to my thinking. However, your surgeons are always looking for new ways to get better outcomes (and who can blame them?) at your hospital’s expense so they will be requesting CAOS in the very near future. Naturally, these CAOS will cost your hospital more money, while at the same time you will be getting lower reimbursement. Sounds like a catch 22 to me!
So what do we do about this dilemma? First, no longer can hospitals make these high-ticket technology decisions behind closed doors if they are to stay solvent in this new healthcare environment. All hospitals will need a multi-disciplinary value analysis technology team, headed by a physician, to strenuously evaluate the efficacy and then the cost/benefits of these new emerging technologies like the CAOS I just mentioned. Too often new technologies don’t work or cost more than as advertised!
Second, it is rare that there aren’t lower cost alternatives to the technology being requested by your physicians. In the CAOS category there are four major players selling surgical robots and six companies offering custom instrumentation and implants. This gives you ten alternatives to explore, just the way you would if you were buying any other commodity group. Don’t let your physicians intimidate you into looking at only one alternative, or YOU LOSE!
Lastly, decide if you can really afford this new technology at this time. Sometimes it’s better to let the hospital down the street absorb the cost of these new modalities as opposed to losing money on every procedure that you do. It might just be better to wait until the technology is a proven best practice before jumping on the band wagon! Other industries do this all the time, why not be one of the first in healthcare to pass on a risky venture!
As you can see, there is no one right answer when deciding on what new emerging technologies that your hospital should be buying. Nevertheless, there is a scientific process, similar to the one I just described, that your hospital should be adopting to make these high-ticket buying decisions. If not, you won’t get ahead of the technology wave that will be heading for your door step as your suppliers look for ways to maintain their profitability in the new healthcare economy and when your reimbursement will be falling at a higher velocity than ever before.
Filed Under: Best Practices • savingsblog
