– Enables hospitals, surgeons, vendors and other stakeholders to plan, manage, track and bill implant surgeries in real-time, reducing costs and increasing accuracy.

ATLANTA (Oct. 20, 2015)

Through Surgery Exchange™, a HIPPA-compliant, web-based platform, hospitals, surgeons, manufacturers and vendors can plan, manage, track and bill implant surgeries – streamlining the process, reducing costs and increasing accuracy.

The research and development of Surgery Exchange encompassed more than three years of collaboration with hospitals, surgeons and device manufacturers.

“The process for managing implant surgeries is extremely complex, requiring intense, manual interaction across multiple entities and individuals,” says Amin Rahme, founder of Surgery Exchange. “Our goal with Surgery Exchange is to simplify the process – helping healthcare providers collaborate and address ongoing challenges in the continuously-changing landscape of implant surgeries.”

Surgery Exchange launched a limited, controlled rollout in February 2015, and is currently being utilized in seven hospitals, with more than 10 additional hospitals in the process of adopting the platform.

How Surgery Exchange Streamlines Implant Surgeries

Surgery Exchange imposes order and efficiency at every step in the implant surgery process. The information is always up-to-date and can be easily tracked in real time via a PC, laptop or mobile device. The format of Surgery Exchange is completely HIPPA-compliant – and automatically notifies all individuals and entities of case changes and/or cancellations.

Hospitals

Most hospital IT systems are not designed to manage Bill-Only cases. As a result, case planning, usage recording, reconciliation and billing activities must be handled manually.

Surgery Exchanges automates these time-consuming activities, transitioning them from a manual process that can be ripe with inaccuracies to a proven, technology-driven process – reducing manpower duplication and redundancies. It produces measureable improvements and accountability across the hospital and its supply chain; and streamlines workflow utilizing hospital-defined rules.

Additionally, hospitals have visibility and accountability for managing vendor contract pricing and compliance pre- and post-surgery.

By using Surgery Exchange, hospitals can know far in advance what vendors intend to bring to the OR. Hospitals will have real time data to produce performance metrics, forecasts and scorecards to see where improvements can be made.

For hospitals, Surgery Exchange case initiation begins from the surgeon’s office or directly from a hospital’s surgery schedule.

• The Case Dashboard shows the case status as it moves through its lifecycle

• Case details provides surgeon notes, special instructions and requests, patient X-rays and more

• Case product lists what will be sent to the OR and is verified against vendor contract for instantaneous compliance

• Usage capture includes disposition, lot code number and whether it came from the vendor and/or hospital stock

• Product not on contract is presented to the hospital Contract Administrator for decision

• Billing details in accordance with the vendor contract are calculated by line item and/or capitated/construct pricing.

• Streamlining usage reconciliation allows for real time electronic delivery of purchase orders

Surgery Exchange Helps Hospitals Fulfill CMS Bundled Pricing and Revision Surgery Compliance …

Surgery Exchange assists healthcare providers in meeting CMS bundled pricing rules by providing a detailed list of implants and lot code numbers, priced in accordance with hospital requirements allowing them to meet their financial goals for the total episode of care.

Surgery Exchange also enables a hospital to maintain revision surgery compliance and better respond to an audit by the Office of Inspector General (OIG.)

In the event of an OIG audit, CMS demands that hospitals maintain accurate records of revision surgeries – the reason for the revision, the manufacturer of the implant(s) to be removed, as well as documented actions taken by the hospital – including credits obtained. With Surgery Exchange, all documents are attached to every case, so the hospital can access the case by date, type of surgery or other criteria and submit the information.

Surgeons

Surgery Exchange decreases the effort of scheduling a case, relieving the surgeon’s office of the administrative minutia inherent in an implant surgery. The platform helps surgeons keep abreast of case preparation and readiness by connecting them with other stakeholders, including the OR team, providing easy access to information that is up-to-date and accurate.

All communications and instructions are organized and documented in one single location, with the ability to attach X-rays and written instructions to other departments and stakeholders involved in the case – all transmitted electronically.

Additionally, surgeons can easily access past records of surgeries that were scheduled through Surgery Exchange.

For a surgeon’s office, Surgery Exchange case initiation begins from the surgeon’s office or directly from a hospital’s surgery scheduling system.

• The Case Dashboard shows the case status as it moves through its lifecycle

• Case details provides surgeon notes, special instructions, requests and patient X-Rays – facilitating communication with stakeholders in a compliant and documented environment

• A surgeon can  review templating before surgery

• Efficiencies reduce administrative workload

Vendors, Manufacturers and Central Distribution Services

With Surgery Exchange, vendors, manufacturers and central distribution services no longer need to rely on a call from a surgeon’s office to learn of an implant surgery. A case notification is immediately sent to the vendor as soon as a surgery is scheduled so there is more time to plan logistics and resource the devices and instruments required for the case. Additionally, Surgery Exchange enables accelerated usage replenishment for the next case – and makes the vendor aware of products not on contract so appropriate action can be taken.

The platform gives manufacturers/vendors access to case details and surgeon notes which helps them plan for contingencies – and the automatic case change/cancellation feature prevents unnecessary trips to the OR, as well as dispatching the wrong products.

Manufacturers/vendors also reap the benefit of Surgery Exchange through more expedient purchase order generation, which allows for faster conversion to cash – as well as through the ability to optimize assets, resulting in reduced investment in field inventory.

For vendors, Surgery Exchange case notification is sent as soon as a surgery is scheduled.

• The Case Dashboard shows case requests, updates and the case schedule

• Case details provides surgeon notes, special instructions, requests and patient X-rays, as well as the surgeon’s special requirements for implants and instruments

• Case product upload or surgeon preference is verified against the contract for instantaneous contract compliance

• Usage capture includes product source, disposition and lot code number

• The case usage report details everything used from the vendor, including hospital-owned inventory

• Billing details in accordance with the vendor contract are calculated by line item and/or capitated/construct pricing

• A purchase order is delivered electronically, in real-time, and includes basic information about the surgery

About Surgery Exchange

Surgery Exchange is a wholly-owned subsidiary of MedTech Exchange, a privately held, highly-specialized software company based in Atlanta, Ga. For more information about the implant surgery process and the Surgery Exchange platform, please visit SurgeryExchange.com.