Coping with Chronic Health Conditions: Tips

5 Reasons To Choose A Physician Owned Hospital For Your Specialty Surgery

19 August 2015 by Freddie Cox

When you find out that surgery is the only option for dealing with an unusual health concern, your first instinct to get it done as quickly as possible is not always the best idea. Unless it's a life-threatening emergency, it's best to compare the qualities of local hospitals to find the place best suited to handle your procedure instead. Picking a hospital owned by licensed physicians will boost your chances of a good recovery with these five benefits.

Lower Prices

Health policy makers have worried that letting doctors own the hospitals can cause price gouging and the ordering of unnecessary services to produce a profit. However, real life price comparisons show that organizations owned by physicians charge an average of around $700 less per year, per patient. This translates to savings for you on both the surgery itself and your recovery time care. Trying to cut costs on necessary surgery won't compromise the results when you stick with a high quality hospital that stays lean to keep prices fairer for patients. 

More Specialties

Skilled specialists are more likely to choose a career at a physician owned hospital because they get more control over their work and deal with a lot less red tape in the process. This is why about 75% of these hospitals offer a specialty focus. Whether you're scheduled for complex intestinal surgery or a set of three different spinal procedures, working with specialists increases your chances of healing without a concurrent infection or other unpleasant surgical side effects.

Faster Changes

The field of surgical medicine is constantly changing. The suturing and post-surgical care techniques used last year are often replaced by far better alternatives within just a few months. Unfortunately, most hospitals operate with so many different oversight committees and compliance boards that making a real change to the current practices can take months too.

The entire board and ownership structure of a doctor run hospital is different. Since the decision makers are all medical experts themselves, adjustments in care happen very quickly after credible evidence shows the benefits of a new technique or protocol. Small but very important improvements, like double-checking the patient receives antibiotics within the first hour after surgery, can get implemented on the floor within the same day.

Fewer Patients

Public hospitals that take funding from federal and state government agencies are often paid by the sheer number of people they serve instead of the quality of care provided to them. Physician owned hospitals tend to focus on customer satisfaction instead, so they aim for lower nurse to patient ratios. This offers numerous benefits like

• Faster medicine dosing in the crucial windows of recovery
• Better response times in emergency situations
• More attention when you need to explain complicated symptoms
• Fewer chart mistakes due to the nurses feeling rushed
• Nicer bedside manners, since the staff is happier overall.

Better Equipment Upgrades

Finally, don't forget about the quality of equipment being used in your specialty surgery. Many modern hospitals are still using laparoscopic equipment from 10 or 15 years ago, while the newest precision controlled tools are out of the budget. The focus on turning a profit helps the physician owned hospital invest in new equipment as soon as possible instead of waiting years for grant money to fund the necessary upgrades.

When you're preparing for a life altering surgery that calls for an experienced surgeon, take the time to find the nearest physician owned specialty hospital. You will enjoy the differences from the first moment you step into the halls, all the way through your surgery and recovery. Heal faster and with fewer complications by choosing the best facility based on both quality and cost.

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