CASE STUDY: CENTER FOR SPECIAL SURGERY AT SAN ANTONIO

Center for Special Surgery at TCA Finds Niche in Sports Medicine

The San Antonio Spurs had more to celebrate in the Spring of 2007 than an NBA Championship. The state-of-the-art Center for Special Surgery at Texas Center for Athletes arrived at the doorstep of the Spurs training facility that March.

Regent Surgical Health, an outpatient surgery center developer, worked with the center’s 12 physician partners to provide the 14,000 square-foot building’s six procedure rooms with the latest equipment and its administration with effective business practices. Their collaboration is proving a stunning success – the new center has dramatically increased its monthly volume of cases from 135 in March to nearly 300 in June.

Since 1987, the physician partners had served at the surgery center under a previous general management partner. In recent years the underperforming surgery center’s profits plummeted and it became apparent that its equipment and structure were outdated. When the decision was made to move the center to its new location near the Spurs complex, the physicians chose to purchase the center from the general partner.

After acquiring the center, the physicians turned to Regent to ensure their venture’s profitability. Regent worked with the physician investors to re-negotiate insurance contracts, to determine the case mix, and to organize efficient management, accounting and human resource support. With Regent’s assistance, the physicians were able to efficiently transfer to the new facility, losing only one workday in the process. Regent was actively involved in establishing day-to-day operations and the hiring of surgery center managers.

"Regent was very enthusiastic about the success of the center," administrator Eric Day recalls. "Their enthusiasm spilled over to the doctors, patients and staff." The volume of cases seen in the first month the facility opened exceeded the number of cases seen during any month for the center during the previous two years.

The Center for Special Surgery at TCA found its niche in sports medicine. "The theme of the building (Texas Center for Athletes) is based around care for the athletic population," says Day. The center’s case distribution reflects that fact – in the first six months, 33 percent of the cases seen were related to orthopedics, 18 percent to hands and 10 percent to podiatry.

Day says that the center intends to continue to expand the number of orthopedic cases it sees by developing its reputation in the sports medicine field.

The pride of ownership fosters the physicians’ exceptional commitment to the center. "The physician owners play a very active role in the development of the center," Day says. "The whole group has a really good team work environment and work ethic." Day is confident that the center’s quality service and effective business practices will ensure its future success. "Word is getting around the community that this is an exceptional center with a bright future and that we are efficient and patient-oriented," he says. "That fact will continue to attract new physicians, patients and employees in the future."