Florida ambulatory surgery center drives improved revenue capture and productivity through savvy inventory management

Along Florida’s Gulf coast are some of America’s most peaceful and beautiful beaches and one of the nation’s top-ranked ambulatory surgery centers (ASC) — Surgical Specialists ASC (SSASC). With three operating rooms, SSASC offers broad services — from traditional orthopedic surgery to pain management and oral/maxillofacial surgery – and has served the Gulf Coast region for the past 13 years.

Surgical Specialists ASC ranks among the top 10% of surgical centers worldwide, and yet even with years of success, SSASC has had to work through many of the same challenges faced by other ASCs. Fortunately, SSASC has benefited from the partnership and expertise of Medline and Hybrent in several key areas.

Supply chain
To manage costs, cash flow and to prevent the expiration of medical products, SSASC keeps a lean inventory, relying on the timely restocking of critical equipment and medical supplies to operate safely, efficiently, and on schedule.

“Medline brings many intangibles to the table, like its own fleet of trucks and local distribution centers that enable us to not only get the items we regularly need, but also the items we may only need every once in a while,” says, Danny Dillard, a surgical specialist at SSASC. “While the intangibles set them apart, Medline’s reliability and flexibility are also very beneficial to SSASC’s operations.”

Timely delivery
Without a loading dock, deliveries can become cumbersome and unpredictable. The ability to deliver products at a consistent time is also very important. Most ASCs do not have warehouse or logistics personnel, thus relying on staff to unload supplies and stock storage rooms. Working with Medline has enabled SSASC to leverage MedTrans, Medline’s private fleet of more than 1,000 delivery vehicles.

“Working with MedTrans has been a tremendous benefit to our center as we can speak directly to our local MedTrans representative to schedule specific times for delivery,” Dillard continued. “This allows us to do our best to unload supplies without disrupting our work and our patients, and it has helped.”

Procurement
Medline partner Hybrent, a leading procurement platform for healthcare organizations, is helping SSASC to lower costs by streamlining and combining the management of purchasing, inventory, and invoicing into one software platform.

Hybrent also helps SSASC to easily provide data and feedback to the center’s C-suite while uncovering hidden opportunities to find savings.

“We would typically spend four to five hours per day ordering supplies. With Hybrent, we’ve cut that down to four hours a week” says Dillard. “This was a huge time recapture for us, and it has enabled us to spend more time finding out where the money is being spent, what’s working and what’s not, and finding additional solutions to better fit our needs while making our centers more profitable. When combined with Hybrent, these attributes transform Medline into one of our most trusted partners.”

To learn more about how Medline can help your ASC, please visit: Medline.com.