OrthoMaryland Care Center Opens Dedicated Administrative Staff Location
Rising rent and occupancy costs are an ongoing challenge for all independent medical groups. An investment in a premier clinical location may no longer be an economically practical solution for back office operational and practice management activities. Faced with the lease renewal of its flagship clinical location, the OrthoMaryland Care Center made the brave decision to relocate 34 back office and leadership personnel to a dedicated location and downsize the main site occupancy footprint. On August 22, 2016, the care center launched its first day with billing, scheduling, medical secretarial support, and management staff in a lean and mean business suite apart from the practice’s clinical activities.
Separate administrative sites are common in the healthcare setting, yet this is the OrthoMaryland Care Center’s first foray into such a plan. According to the care center’s IT Director, Howard Kahn, today’s technology options help to ease the burdens and inconveniences associated with remote workers. “Our offices have always maintained consistent connectivity; technologically speaking, single administrative and clinical software platforms made this one of our less complex projects.”
The annual financial savings are significant and were the motivating factor behind the change. “We realized that sharing our most costly clinical site with our back office operations was a luxury, one that we could forfeit for budget relief. The unexpected soft benefits have been equally compelling. The clinical site is quieter and less chaotic and the new administrative site is ideal for staff and department collaboration and cross-training,” says Heidi Bell, OrthoMaryland Care center CEO. “All in all, the move is a big success, one that will benefit the organization and our staff long term,” she says.