Physician Owned Hospitals Providing Superior Care

Carrie Helm, CEO of the Arkansas Surgical Hospital (ASH), has 30 years of experience in the rapidly changing field of healthcare. This administrator is a passionate supporter of physician owned hospitals.

“I feel healthcare should be in the hands of the physicians, not hospital administrators, insurance company executives or the government,” Helm said. “Physician owned hospitals are the future of healthcare. Our physicians came together to build a hospital where they would not be hindered in their ability to provide each and every patient with the best care possible. This is a facility where the physicians make the decisions and can adjust these decisions as quickly as necessary in order to maximize the outcomes for their patients,”

Helm, a native of Oklahoma, previously worked as a group vice president for a management and development company and as an administrator and CFO for small, medium-sized hospitals, as well as rural facilities. She has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Central Oklahoma with a Master of Business Administration from Oklahoma City University.

Since opening, ASH has managed to achieve some of the highest hospital rankings possible. The hospital was rated in the top one percent in the nation in overall surgical care, major orthopedic surgery, spine surgery, patient safety and patient satisfaction by 2011 CareChex Ratings. The 2011 HealthGrades Ratings rank the hospital first in Arkansas for orthopedic surgery and first in the state for spine surgery.

“The ability to focus on a few procedures and specialize brings a higher level of care, patient and family satisfaction, outcomes and efficiencies into healthcare,” Helm said. “If you look at the quality ratings of physician-owned hospitals you will find they are almost always the top in their state as well as in the top five percent of the national rankings. We ‘sweat’ the small stuff, taking a team approach of attention to every detail.  Our attitude is that ‘good’ is not good enough.

“Our physicians designed a facility that is productive, safe and friendly, allowing the staff to provide quality care. This design includes the patient flow process, the design of the operating rooms and expanded space in the patient rooms providing a family area, as well as a patient area.”

ASH is different from the time a patient walks in the front door for admission until they are discharged. It feels like a nice hotel rather than a hospital. The patient rooms are actually suites. 

“We believe this provides a family atmosphere as the patient recovers,” Helm said. “Each patient room has a separate area for the family member to rest including a loveseat that makes into a twin-size bed, their own television and separate lighting. We go beyond the traditional hospital experience for a more caring, family and patient-focused atmosphere in our facility. ”

Follow up is another important aspect to patient care here.

“We make every effort to communicate and return the patient to their referring physician,” Helm said. “We believe that by including the primary care or referring physician in the patient’s overall care, we have confidence that the patient will continue to receive excellent care, even after they’ve left our facility.” 

ASH specializes in orthopedic, spine, cosmetic, breast oncology and podiatric surgery, as well as a variety of diagnostic and pain management procedures.

“Specialization benefits patients tremendously,” Helm said. “When the staff understand and specialize in specific aspects of surgical care, patient care is enhanced.  Patient safety and outcomes are improved. Patient safety is mission critical here at ASH. We work hard to maintain a 0.02 percent infection rate compared to the national average of three percent. This is important in a healthier and aging population.”

The secret to those low infection rates is superior surgeons, staff and design.

“The surgeons at our facility are truly the best,” Helm said. “They are skilled in techniques they use and they demand a high level of quality from our staff. Our staff meets these high expectations each day. The smallest details are given our full attention. This means when the rooms are turned, attention is given to cleaning the rooms, processing the equipment and verifying that each and every action is done correctly every time. The operating rooms were designed to be large, allowing for the multiple trays, instruments and equipment to stay outside the sterile field with less chance of exposure and infection. Standardization is another important aspect of preventing infections. The surgeon and the staff know what is going to occur each and every time.”

The hospital also has a high, five to one, patient to nurse ratio. Attentiveness to the patient is increased and the overall care of the patient is improved. 

“This result is higher satisfaction, better outcomes, lower infections, and better patient safety,” Helm said.

The challenges of running a hospital in today’s environment are great. The regulatory environment is, at best, unpredictable. Helm said the government’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 is burdensome and the regulations that will enforce this reform are not written. Growing patient demand, declining reimbursement rates and fewer physicians entering the healthcare field may create havoc for the U.S. health care system, according to industry experts.

“As the cost of care continues to increase, and reimbursement continues to decline, healthcare providers are going to have to rethink how, when and where they deliver care,” Helm said. “The demand for orthopedic and spine care in coming years is predicted to create havoc in the U.S. health care system.  If we do not have facilities that are equipped and specialized to meet this increased demand, accessibility will be greatly impacted.” 

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