From Insight to Action

Improving physicians’ performance with SurgIntel

High-cost implant clinical service lines—often influenced by physician preference—are central to a health system’s annual contracting strategy. Following the implementation of implant construct formularies, suppliers sometimes steer physician choice toward higher-cost options. This has the potential to undermine projected savings and contribute to margin erosion for hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs).

To address these and similar related issues, HealthTrust developed the Medical Device Management (MDM) SurgIntel platform. It was designed to enhance clinical performance—as well as improve margins—through provider alignment, cost transparency, reduction in clinical and financial variation, and key service line performance indicators.

Complementing medical device sourcing and physician engagement, SurgIntel actively manages high-value implants and supplies—building a foundation for physician utilization insights and collaborative engagement. This prepares health systems for sourcing events with aligned and engaged physicians.

“The goal is to drive performance improvement through meaningful, collaborative conversations with physicians,” says Chris Stewart, Vice President of Medical Device Management at HealthTrust. “Recognizing variability in implant utilization, we designed a technology-enabled solution powered by data to support evidence-based, value-driven surgical planning.”

Dissecting procedure details

SurgIntel was developed by a team of clinical experts who created detailed product categorizations for various procedures, defining standard protocols and identifying typical devices, disposables and instruments. “Our taxonomy and clinical attributes make this an industry-differentiating approach,” says Drew Torres, Assistant Vice President of Medical Device Management at HealthTrust.

For example, in a one-level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion, a spine surgeon typically uses one spacer, a plate, two or four screws, and a biologic. Torres explains that nothing additional should be needed. However, when extra supplies appear, SurgIntel highlights variations, enabling health systems to understand usage patterns and engage physicians in addressing differences.

Empowering health systems for success

MDM’s platform targets three major service lines—orthopedic, spine and cardiovascular—where costly implants drive spending. SurgIntel provides detailed analysis for procedures, including:

• Total joint replacements (hips, knees, shoulders)
• Cardiovascular (Cardiac Rhythm Management [CRM], coronary)
• Osteobiologics
• Spinal fusions

A new rebate-tracking feature allows users to evaluate and manage agreements, understand performance, identify higher rebate tier opportunities, and ensure timely supplier payments. While health systems access data via the SurgIntel dashboard, the MDM team conducts quarterly reviews to highlight trends and opportunities. “Sometimes we are asked to join physician conversations; other times, we uncover opportunities and recommend areas of focus,” Torres explains, teaching members to leverage data for effective engagement.

The MDM team collaborates with administrators, service line and supply chain leaders to prepare for physician discussions. “Without clear opportunities and next steps, meaningful change rarely happens,” Stewart adds. SurgIntel pinpoints variation for reduction and measures post-change impact. For hesitant leaders, the MDM team provides support, including outreach through HealthTrust’s Physician Advisor Network as well as assistance in refining messaging to enable more confident conversations.

Designed with the end user in mind, SurgIntel offers tailored dashboard views: Physicians see their data, while stakeholders filter insights by role, variation type or owner. “SurgIntel integrates key data, enabling users to uncover insights and identify relevant stakeholders for each opportunity,” Stewart explains. Procedural-level data informs contract negotiations, empowering custom contracting teams with strategic market intelligence for competitive pricing on physician preference items.

“We are proud of the multidisciplinary team—the physicians, clinicians, former implant reps, service line leaders and hos-pital operators—who contributed to building SurgIntel’s proprietary attributes to best meet the real-world performance needs of today’s providers,” he adds.

Data-driven conversations

To foster open dialogue, SurgIntel compares like-for-like procedures and accounts for patient health status, easing concerns about skewed data from comorbidities. Physicians may initially question accuracy, but the depth and validation of data spark competitive focus on outcomes. Leaders can discuss evidence levels, questioning costly implant use in healthy patients when Level 1 evidence shows no need. “Presenting data fosters thoughtful questions and collaboration on implant selection, costs and peer comparisons, empowering physicians to manage cost, quality and outcomes,” Stewart explains.

SurgIntel’s informatics provide transparency and accuracy, preventing physicians from dismissing data over patient population or acuity claims. “When discussions aren’t seen as criticism, dialogue opens and relationships strengthen,” Stewart adds. Aligned physicians reduce unnecessary variation and then monitor data so they can sustain the improvements.

Taking control of unnecessary variation

Leveraging HealthTrust’s data from more than 1,800 hospitals and 85,000 alternate sites, SurgIntel accelerates value through quick wins, contracting strategies and monitoring to maximize supplier agreements.

Torres and Stewart share an example of the team’s work with Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS) that used SurgIntel’s Orthopedic Analytics Dashboard to find savings. One insight: A reusable orthopedic reamer was billed as disposable, causing excess charges.

Fixing this saved $119,000 in two weeks.

“We know controlling variation lowers supply spend,” Torres says. “SurgIntel was born to fill the gap in robust, physician-level optimization for device utilization and peer comparison.” Without it, systems typically rely on manual, siloed spreadsheet analysis. In spine surgery, staff might open 15 cc of osteobiologics when 1 cc suffices.

“Once utilization aligns, preference card analysis drives cost avoidance, waste mitigation and savings protection,” Stewart reports. SurgIntel validates all data with case details for granular, accurate categorization.

Sustainable results

Torres and Stewart share another example from a 17-hospital HealthTrust member that used SurgIntel for provider alignment and cost transparency.

By reviewing variability and benchmarking, the health system’s physicians adjusted their utilization,
saving $5 million in year one while maintaining care quality.

Continued collaboration and data-driven decision-making through the SurgIntel platform led to an additional 6% in savings—approximately $3.5 million—during the following year, as stakeholder alignment deepened and value-based strategies advanced.

“Once utilization aligns, preference card analysis drives cost avoidance, waste mitigation and savings protection,” Stewart says.

And, the opportunities for ongoing savings and efficiencies don’t end after the initial work with the HealthTrust team. Post-alignment, SurgIntel monitors formularies and physician utilization to sustain gains. “We tell members to think of this as insurance for their contracts; it’s a way to ensure they can realize their full value,” Torres adds.

 

DRIVE SUSTAINABLE PERFORMANCE FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION WITH SURGINTEL. Contact your HealthTrust Account Manager or email corp.medicaldevicemgmt@healthtrustpg.com for a personalized demo. Attending HTU in August? Visit the MDM team within the HealthTrust Village.

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