Multi-Specialty Center Achieves Operational Excellence with the Leading ASC Software

Situation

Deer Valley Surgical and Endoscopy Center (DVSEC), located in Phoenix, Arizona, is a physician-hospital joint venture, multispecialty ambulatory surgery center managed by Sovereign Healthcare. The center performs roughly 11,000 cases a year between its 4 operating rooms and 2 endoscopy suites.

The center relied on a legacy business office management system paired with paper documentation, which required significant staff time and resources to support the center's volume. Jim Rice, Senior Vice President of Operations and Support Services, Sovereign Healthcare, explains that Sovereign Healthcare “sought a software system that would reduce the burden of a paper-based system and provide a reliable and user-friendly electronic medical record.”

Solution

After evaluating several options, the team, which included revenue cycle members, operations leaders, and clinical staff, selected SIS Complete™ as DVSEC's comprehensive ASC software. “We needed a system that would not slow down the efficiency of the center,” explained Lynn Dugan, Senior Vice President of ASC Operations and Clinical Services, Sovereign Healthcare. “Nursing staff was a key part of the team to find a solution that would follow patient workflow and provide the proper documentation required. We also sought feedback from anesthesia and surgeons to ensure the system we chose would meet their documentation requirements.”

By selecting the SIS Complete cloud-based ASC management platform, DVSEC built a connected operation where scheduling, documentation, patient communication, and business intelligence were all managed in one solution.

Faster Scheduling & Communications

DVSEC previously accepted case requests from physician offices via fax, which could take weeks for the scheduling team to review. In some instances, the fax failed to reach the center, leading to confusion between the offices and the ASC.

With SIS Complete, physician offices now submit cases and supporting documents electronically via SIS Link™ and receive confirmation that requests have been successfully submitted. DVSEC's scheduling team responds so quickly that they often keep case request queues clear.

Staff also have greater visibility into the surgical schedule. Should changes or cancellations arise, the ASC can notify all internal and external stakeholders at once via the SIS Complete case coordination functionality, replacing scattered email threads.

SIS Complete's electronic scheduling capabilities have also led to helpful discussions between the center's schedulers and the Central Billing Office (CBO), with the scheduling team reaching out to the CBO to determine whether they can accept procedures with certain CPT codes before adding them to the schedule.

Comprehensive Clinical Documentation

All DVSEC anesthesia providers now document in SIS Charts™. To ease adoption, the ASC runs structured onboarding sessions for providers before they chart a live case.

"Our anesthesia providers were initially hesitant to move to electronic documentation, but seeing is believing," said Patrick O'Bryan, MSN, RN, Clinical Informaticist at DVSEC. Providers highlight vitals capture, medication macros, and faster assessments as key benefits. Physicians especially value the Surescripts integration, which pulls patient medications into SIS Charts.

Rather than shuffling paper charts, clinical teams can confirm whether consents have been signed with a single click. This enhanced visibility enables prompt follow-up and has reduced the time required to ensure all documentation is signed.

More Engaged & Prepared Patients

Printed pre-op and discharge instructions sent home with patients have been replaced by the SIS Exchange™ patient portal, which patients can access via mobile device or computer. Utilization is high across a patient population with large geriatric and pediatric segments. Through SIS Exchange, DVSEC delivers clear, detailed pre-op and post-op instructions and reminders directly to patients or caregivers. Automated messaging for endoscopy and GLP-1 patients has already helped reduce same-day cancellations by prompting earlier conversations about known risk factors.

Data-Driven Improvements

Sovereign Healthcare and DVSEC's teams leverage the extensive data intelligence capabilities of SIS Complete to drive performance improvements:

• Physician and specialty performance: The center tracks and compares performance metrics across individual physicians and specialties including on-time starts and the timing of antibiotic administration, providing visibility into how different surgical disciplines impact efficiency.
• Turnover times: Monitoring turnover times has reduced turnaround to 15-20 minutes between cases, a substantial reduction across specialties.
• Case times: Monitoring case times revealed that a physician's office was estimating that a specific procedure would only last 30 minutes but took 60 minutes to perform, which resulted in delays throughout the center and long wait-times for patients. This insight allowed DVSEC to schedule more accurately and plan resources better.
• Case Costing Data: Ongoing assessment and fine-tuning of preference cards supports more accurate case costing data, enabling cost comparisons across physicians and informing smarter supply decisions.

With access to vital clinical and business office data, DVSEC has built a culture of decision-making and continuous improvement.

A Connected Ecosystem

With SIS Complete, DVSEC has turned interoperability into a source of operational efficiency. Operative notes for endoscopy cases are completed in another system and flow directly into SIS, eliminating manual printing and scanning. Specimen results, previously tracked on paper, flow into SIS Complete via an interface with the pathology partner's software. "We created a very simple, standardized dictionary for items like normal/abnormality markings, which has created consistency and allowed us to set up reports," O'Bryan said.

The center also connected SIS Complete with its vendors for OAS CAHPS, operative note transcription, and ultrasound with anesthesia image capture, reducing reliance on manual processes and safeguarding data accuracy. "There are so many integration possibilities with SIS," O'Bryan said. "There are things we didn't even realize we could do before using SIS."

A Partnership Built on Ongoing Support

DVSEC's success with SIS Complete is reinforced by a strong partnership with the SIS team. As Sovereign's SIS Complete super user, O'Bryan serves as the primary liaison between the organization and SIS Support, resolving what he can internally and escalating more complex questions when needed. "SIS Support is very responsive no matter how I reach out to them," he said.

DVSEC also stays current on product functionality through SIS training and educational programming, including user events, new feature webinars, and product training webinars. A dedicated SIS sales representative also tracks down answers and brings new solutions to ensure Sovereign and DVSEC always have what they need to Operate Smart™. "I love our sales representative. She goes above and beyond to address whatever our organization throws at her," O'Bryan said.

Conclusion

DVSEC has transformed from a paper-dependent center into a connected, high-performing operation, one where scheduling, documentation, patient engagement, data, and interoperability reinforce one another. The confidence built at DVSEC now proliferates throughout Sovereign: O'Bryan leads SIS Complete go-lives across the organization's ASCs, carrying proven workflows from one center to the next.

"I've worked with many EHRs in my career," said O’Bryan. "SIS Complete does everything the other systems do, but more simply."

For ASC leaders weighing a similar transition from paper to an electronic solution, DVSEC offers a clear lesson: With the right platform and a strong internal champion, modern surgery center technology can establish a foundation for lasting operational excellence.

Ready to Operate Smart™? Connect with Surgical Information Systems to see what SIS Complete can do for your center.