Every administrator in the medical industry, regardless of specialty, is working to keep their practices afloat in the current market. Strategies to increase efficiency and quality are vital for survival in an uncertain healthcare climate. John Lewis, administrator at Semmes-Murphey Neurologic & Spine Institute, oversees the placement and operation of systems that make that possible.

 

From collaboration to customer service, Lewis works to keep the offices running smoothly for patients while being on the cutting edge for the doctors. As a leader in the development and technology of procedures, Semmes-Murphey is leveraging their assets to garner more physicians and work together with local health systems to enhance access and abilities.

 

Just in the time I’ve been here in the last eight years, the advances our doctors have made with the techniques they use in surgery are just incredible. We do a lot more minimally invasive procedures. That is just continuing to improve more and more and more.

 

We kicked off our EMR in 2004, so we started a little bit early. It took a couple of years but we’re now at a point where we’re starting to see positive impact from that. EMR forces you to be not only more efficient, it gives you a better quality of care. To me, it’s more consistent and higher performing.

 

One of the required things now is that all modalities have to be accredited. We started the accreditation process back in ’07. All our MRI and CT are accredited and that was a huge project. 

 

 

One of the biggest challenges we have is finding neurosurgeons. They don’t grow neurosurgeons on trees. We’re working hard to try to hire new blood and those that have different training on different technology. We run the UT Department of Neurosurgery. One of our missions is training the next generation of surgeons. It’s a good position to be in because it gives you an opportunity to see the next class of surgeons. We use our program and our physicians – the technology and surgical techniques they use – to attract new physicians.

 

The Medicare cuts are quite significant for us. We are in the process now of looking at what our strategy is going to be long term to take care of Medicare patients. We recognize that there are people out there we are going to have take care of and we’ve got to figure out a way to take care of those patients. When you get down to whether or not you can keep the doors open, those are the decisions you have to make. It’s a really difficult situation. We’re at a point now where we’re going to be subsidizing those patients.

 

I think what you’re going to see in the future is hopefully more partnerships between clinics and healthcare systems. We’re working on a couple collaborative projects with Baptist and Methodist. I think if you’re going to offer the best quality of medicine without it being exorbitantly expensive, you have to collaborate. There’s no other way you can do it. The hospitals need the doctors and we need the facilities. It’s a win-win for the patient.

 

We’ve spent a lot of focus on customer service and how we sound when we answer the phone and at the front desk and how nurses and doctors respond to patients. To me, one of the ways you can carve yourself out to be different is to really just offer a smiling face and a pleasant response. It’s about compassion.

 

In talking with most of our doctors, they feel that changes in the way that healthcare is rendered are overdue. Some of the changes that could be made to create a better economic environment include the sale of insurance products across state lines, professional liability changes which address defensive medicine practices and reduction of administrative intrusion at both the government and private levels. 

 

Given the size and complexity of the reform package, it’s still unclear what the true impact will be. Almost everyone I spoke to indicated that they have as much or more concern around how this will affect our nation, the economy and the type of society we wish to cultivate. Obviously, many of these changes will have significant impact on our practice (economic and otherwise), and we are evaluating the processes in place and the issues that get between patients and doctors. For now, we will continue to focus our energies on creating the best possible environment for our patients, our staff and our doctors.

 

We’re six years into our EMR system and five years into our PACS and we’ve got some fairly significant upgrades that will be happening this year. I think that will make us even more efficient and we’ll be able to move into e-prescribing.

 

We’re looking at additional services and are continuing to hire new physicians. And not just neurosurgeons but other physicians that can offer a different service to our patients like a physical therapist or even a general practitioner.

 

One of the big things we’re going to see in the next 10 years is expanding our reach in terms of physical region. We’ve got out-clinics now but we want to expand that even farther to make that more accessible.