Join us in celebrating the ASC industry. Learn how to get involved and raise awareness of the impact surgery centers have on our healthcare systems.
It’s National ASC Month!
We at SIS are honored to serve the ASC community and are thankful for the care provided by outpatient surgery centers.
Every day, ASCs provide thousands of patients with high-quality, cost-effective, and often life-changing procedures. It’s quite likely that if you’re reading this article, you already know this. So why — or better yet, for whom — are we raising awareness?
ASCs are regulated by federal and state governments, and surgery centers benefit when they receive recognition and support from elected officials. While awareness among lawmakers has grown over the years, many still lack a full understanding of how ASCs positively affect America’s healthcare industry, and specifically, how laws affect patients and ASCs.
Encourage Congressional Involvement: Letter Writing
Over the years, it’s been considered standard behavior for ASCs to host events for their communities and invite lawmakers for facility tours. National ASC Month coincides with Congress’s long summer recess and offers ASCs the opportunity to engage elected officials in their home districts.
A great action that surgery centers can take to raise awareness of the impact our industry has is to write their local officials. This also serves as an alternative for those who are unable to host in-person facility tours.
We’ve provided a handy template that you can use to write your local congress members below. You can find out who and where to send letters to your local district representative here and your local senators here.
Download the template for U.S. Representatives here
Download the template for U.S. Senators here
Get Involved: Additional Activities
By participating in awareness-raising activities, communities and government officials alike can learn more about surgery centers and the essential role that they play in providing affordable, high-quality surgical care.
Besides hosting in-person facility tours and writing letters to elected officials, there are many other ways for ASCs to get involved. Here are 4 additional activities to interact with the public and raise awareness for your facility and the ASC industry:
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Advocate with ASCA
The Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA) is calling for support of the Outpatient Surgery Quality and Access Act of 2023, which ensures Medicare beneficiaries’ continued access to high-quality outpatient surgery. You can participate in this call to action by visiting the campaign page and filling out the form to submit pre-templated letters to your members of Congress, asking them to cosponsor the bill.
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Develop community health education materials
Gain visibility in your community by sharing educational materials, such as infographic flyers, short videos shared on your website and/or social media, coloring books, and posters. You can even host a virtual community education course that shares information related to your facility’s specialty(s) or most common procedures.
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💡SIS Tip: Inspiration is everywhere – consider the materials you would provide at an open house! Hand out goody bags, host a raffle, or create branded informational packets. For the distribution of educational materials, places such as your waiting room, the local library, and your chamber of commerce are great locations to make the resources available to the public.
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Participate in podcast, radio, and television interviews
An innovative way to share the benefits that ASCs provide is to take part in podcast, radio, and television/video segments — whether self-hosted or through a local network with an ASC representative as a guest. Distribute these online through your website and/or social media to help appeal to a larger audience. Plus, it allows your content to be shared, spreading awareness without further adding to your workload.
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Share patient satisfaction survey and quality study results
You know your ASC does a great job providing care, and you likely have documentation to prove it. Leverage this data by publicizing patient satisfaction survey results, patient testimonials, and quality study results. This is a great way to use information you're already gathering to toot your own horn and demonstrate why your ASC deserves the support of lawmakers.
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Hold virtual facility tours
During the pandemic, surgery centers had to get creative with community engagement. The Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA) encourages surgery centers to host virtual facility tours, even providing a “Virtual Tour Kit” to help ASCs plan a successful virtual tour. The kit includes ASCA’s virtual facility tour guidebook, presentation templates, an informative flyer, email templates to invite your local legislators, and a set of frequently asked questions.
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As we kick off National ASC Month (“NASCM”), Surgical Information Systems would like to acknowledge and applaud the incredible work accomplished by the ASC industry! To stay up to date with SIS events, news, and engagement opportunities this month, be sure to follow us on our social platforms!
