Stuart Morris-Hipkins of Syncera, a solution provider company at the marcus evans National Healthcare CXO Summit Fall 2016, discusses how hospital and surgeon alignment can positively impact patient care and the cost of care.

Interview with: Stuart Morris-Hipkins, SVP & General Manager, Syncera.

“With healthcare reimbursement changes like CMS’ new Episode Payment Models, it will become absolutely critical that all parties are aligned and working well together,” says Stuart Morris-Hipkins, SVP & General Manager, Syncera. “Hospitals have to revisit the entire episode of care, to ensure patients continue to have the best care and outcomes, regardless of surgery or surgeon,” he suggests.

Syncera, powered by Smith & Nephew, is a solution provider company at the marcus evans National Healthcare CXO Summit Fall 2016, in Los Angeles, California, October 16-18.

How can hospital and surgeon alignment improve?

Alignment is about ensuring the hospital and the surgeons are working together in a much more collaborative manner, and looking at different metrics to improve patient outcomes and efficiency. It could be OR efficiency, patient reported outcomes or patient satisfaction scores. The values should be appropriate and shared appropriately, based on a set of clear criteria, and in place for the duration of the bundle. Everyone must work well together. Alignment across the entire episode, from both the service providers and the surgeons, will be critical in this new world of fixed reimbursement for different procedures.

Having good and critical metrics around quality and outcomes, and incentives that are aligned with protocols, will deliver the best care for patients.

How should physicians and surgeons interact with hospitals with respect to bundled payment? Should they consider a joint venture relationship or a gain sharing agreement? Why?

It depends on how the physicians structure themselves, how many surgeon groups are in place and so on. Essentially, every hospital and surgeon group needs to work together, explore all the options that make sense for them. There are both federal and state guidelines to meet. To understand the rules of engagement are as important as the structure and what the desired outcome of the agreement will be.

Syncera tries to educate the market on all the options available, to ensure that each hospital and surgeon group has the right information to make the best informed choices. Hospitals and surgeons have a variety of choices, from co-management agreements to gain sharing agreements. It is obviously important to work with an experienced legal expert as well. To get everyone aligned, the right conversations should occur and people must understand what it takes to be successful.

How can hospitals ensure the best outcome for each patient?

It is about understanding the different types of patients coming in for surgery and what their needs are. It is absolutely critical to get the best outcome, to educate the patient, have the appropriate service and support throughout the entire episode. Surgeons have to ensure those protocols remain throughout the episode, that the hospital supports the patient. Tomorrow is about the patient having a good experience throughout the episode of care from the hospital setting through post-acute.

Any final words of advice?

Understand the changes that are occurring and that you cannot wait for the market to change. Having a holistic view from the pre-operative, inter-operative and post-operative care for any specialty is critical. It is the CEO’s, hospital’s and surgeon’s role to now orchestrate that across the entire episode in a way that meets the new landscape. Get organized and stay informed, consider alignment agreements, put case navigators in place and partner with the right vendors.

Contact: Sarin Kouyoumdjian-Gurunlian, Press Manager, marcus evans, Summits Division

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About the National Healthcare CXO Summit Fall 2016

The 15th National Healthcare CXO Summit is the premium forum bringing senior level healthcare executives and solution providers together. The Summit offers an intimate environment for a focused discussion of key new drivers shaping the healthcare industry. Taking place at The Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey, Los Angeles, California, October 16-18, 2016, the Summit includes presentations on healthcare reform and the ACA, managing population health, achieving operational excellence, driving innovation and focusing on the patient experience.

For more information about this event please visit: http://events.marcusevans-events.com/healthcare-cxo-summit-october16-netspectiveemedia-/

Please note that the Summit is a closed business event and the number of participants strictly limited.

About Syncera

Syncera, powered by Smith & Nephew, is an immediate and sustainable solution to significantly reduce total joint replacement episode of care costs. Syncera offers healthcare organizations a unique and comprehensive solution including: clinically proven primary hip and knee implants with 98% survivorship at 15 years; Interactive Digital Solutions that drive sustainable cost reductions by reducing implant waste, reducing training time, streamlining instrument trays, and supply chain efficiencies; and ongoing support, and performance metrics. To illustrate the savings, a hospital that does 700 hip and knee procedures a year, over a three year time period will enjoy savings of over $4million. Syncera is a focused on partnering with hospitals to succeed in the new healthcare environment.

www.syncera.com

About marcus evans Summits

marcus evans Summits are high level business forums for the world’s leading decision-makers to meet, learn and discuss strategies and solutions. Held at exclusive locations around the world, these events provide attendees with a unique opportunity to individually tailor their schedules of keynote presentations, case studies, roundtables and one-on-one business meetings. For more information, please visit www.marcusevans.com

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