Synergy Health Partners
Learn About Our Client’s Success
Industry
Health
Location
Greater Detroit Area
Engagement Summary
Synergy Health Partners (SHP), a 31-provider orthopedic and spine care practice, serves patients throughout greater Detroit area. Following a challenging four-year period marked by the impacts of COVID-19 and a change in auto insurance regulations that capped payments to healthcare providers in July 2022, SHP appointed a new CEO in the fall of 2023 to spearhead a turnaround effort.
Business Situation
Despite SHP’s stellar reputation built over multiple decades, the previous executive leadership team struggled to steer the company toward success. The new CEO, an accomplished leader with extensive knowledge of the private equity backed physician practice management roll-up industry, began by strengthening and supporting proven leaders within the executive team while restructuring and replacing those who were not aligned or capable of guiding the organization to success.
Over approximately eight months, the CEO focused on several key areas:
- Optimizing the utilization and staffing of the two Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs)
- Renegotiating key supplier contracts
Initiating a new pharmaceutical service line dispensing service - Reenergizing marketing efforts to reconnect with former patients
During this eight month period, SHP engaged OneAccord Partners to serve as an interim COO, focusing primarily on restructuring the ASCs along with other key initiatives.
OneAccord Solution
One Accord concentrated on understanding the critical metrics that drive the performance of a well-functioning ASC. OneAccord recognized that improving basic operating metrics, such as facility utilization and staff-per-case ratios, would provide a foundation for steady performance improvements. Collaborating with key operational leaders within the executive team, physicians, and ASC staff, OneAccord began outlining the parameters needed to transform SHP into a market-leading facility.
Over the course of an intensive eight-week period to align the schedules across the ASC, hospital, and clinics, as well as securing physician approval to revamp long-standing habits related to their clinic days and surgery schedules. The solution focused on optimizing three main areas:
- Reducing the number of available days to match the demand for surgeries
- Decreasing the number of staff needed to support the new, more compressed ASC schedule
- Establishing “block times” for each surgeon on surgery days
Based on these tenets, the team developed and implemented a “clean sheet” approach to redesigning the flow and scheduling processes, to enable efficient utilization of precious physician operating time and minimizing staffing expense.
