Medical Facilities (TSX: DR) operates specialty surgical hospitals and an ambulatory surgery centre in the United States. The company’s specialty surgical hospitals provide scheduled surgical, imaging, diagnostic, and other ancillary services, such as urgent care and occupational health. It also offers ambulatory surgery centre, which performs scheduled outpatient surgical procedures, and third-party business solutions to healthcare entities. The company was incorporated in 2004 and is headquartered in Toronto.
Prudent business strategy
The company is focused on acquiring additional facilities to enhance the potential for operational efficiencies, including the implementation of operational best practices, standardization of equipment, and group purchasing programs. These acquisitions should enhance the stability of the company’s operations on a combined basis through a broadened geographic base and diversification of the company’s customer base.
Attracting the best healthcare professionals
Medical Facilities has been very successful in attracting and retaining quality physicians. Some reasons for this success include an ownership and management structure in place, which is designed to increase a physician’s productivity and professional fee income, promote professional success, provide control over scheduling, and enhance the quality of patient care.
Enhancing operational efficiencies
The clinical and operational procedures in place at each company facility is designed to maximize operational efficiencies. By focusing on a limited number of specialized procedures, Medical Facilities is able to develop and implement clinical and administrative best practices, which increase physician productivity. Each facility identifies and achieves potential synergies, which includes the implementation of best practices, standardization of reporting, participation in group purchasing programs, and consolidation of benefit programs.
Robust marketing strategy
Medical Facilities undertakes proactive marketing activities directed at physicians, other healthcare providers, patients, and payors. These activities generally emphasize the benefits offered by the individual company facility compared to other healthcare facilities, such as the ability to schedule consecutive cases without pre-emption by emergency procedures, efficient turnaround time between cases, the simplified administrative procedures utilized at each facility, and overall patient satisfaction.
Facilities expansion
The company looks to increase revenues and operating efficiency by the disciplined introduction of new service lines and more complex surgical and pain management procedures. Physician loyalty is a key to the success of the company. Physicians prefer practicing at the company because of the ability to increase the number of procedures performed in a given period relative to a traditional hospital setting. This maximizes efficiency and increasing professional fee potential.
The clinical and administrative procedures in place at the company are designed to improve the patient experience and ensure a high degree of patient satisfaction. Patients prefer the company’s facilities over traditional hospitals and other surgical facilities because of the comfort of a less institutional environment, a high level of customer service and convenience, simplified administration procedures, and greater scheduling flexibility while providing high-quality patient care. The company’s facilities consistently rank high in industry-leading surveys and studies of patient satisfaction.
Management and the members of the board of directors of the company have extensive financial and corporate development experience and extensive relationships throughout the healthcare industry. This should serve Medical Facilities well.
