Meet Surgical Coordinator Samantha Luberto

Discover how she used brand-new surgical workflows to help her practice

The ModMed^Ⓡ HERO Award recognizes leaders in practice operations who harness our solutions to help improve their practice. Under her leadership, award finalist Samantha Luberto’s practice successfully transitioned from paper charts to ModMed. Meet Samantha and learn more about her career and accomplishments as an office operations coordinator.

Samantha’s Story

I’ve officially been a surgical coordinator for six years, but I quickly became the go-to person for technical and process questions after I started. I enjoy using software technology, and that interest led me to configure our practice’s website and champion our transition off paper.

Eye Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeons of CNY specializes in ocular facial plastics and eyelid surgery, and we have an unusually high patient volume. I am responsible for the entire surgical scheduling workflow, from obtaining prior authorization and preop clearances to contacting PCPs. In the span of two weeks, I can fill one surgery day with 20 patients for my physician.

Eye Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeons of CNY has four providers at four locations serving the population of North Syracuse, NY. For over 30 years, the medical staff have provided free eye exams and surgeries to support Dr. Thomas Bersani, a founding member of the Honduras Eye and Life Program.

Right now, my role at the office has changed to become more of everything operations related, such as planning the vision forum for our ophthalmology doctors. It feels good to take on new challenges because I know the staff has faith that I’ll take care of them.

Getting Patients Into Surgery, More Efficiently

Before ModMed, we were manually typing all our letters to doctors, and the physicians were using dictation to complete their charts on a desktop. It would often take a full day for physicians to catch up on notes. Once I saw how much time was being wasted on the operational inefficiencies of this manual work, I took it upon myself to research EMRs. After I found ModMed, I knew the software fit our needs, and I was able to convince some change-resistant colleagues to switch.

I spearheaded the software implementation, and now we’re able to schedule and see patients on what were previously designated “note catch-up days.” Physicians sign and finalize their notes by the end of each day, and it’s not uncommon for our office to submit the billing to insurance within 24 hours. With the new EMR and PM software from ModMed, I created brand-new workflows for surgery that speed up the process for our staff and patients and get bills paid faster.

Physicians sign and finalize their notes by the end of each day, and it’s not uncommon for our office to submit the billing to insurance within 24 hours.

For example, with ModMed Kiosk, we give the patient an iPad to fill out their demographics and history in the waiting room. The Patient Portal also allows patients to provide their info before they get to the office. Since both of these tools send the data directly to the EMR, our front desk staff have an easier time checking in patients and can answer more patient calls.

Leaping Into Operational Success

We measured our success in several ways, including the number of patients and scheduled surgeries before the transition compared to afterward. We’ve seen 54% more new patients since moving to ModMed, and we’re scheduling surgeries within a week of their appointments. We’re able to see more new patients, and we’re able to get people on the schedule faster.

We’ve seen 54% more new patients since moving to ModMed, and we’re scheduling surgeries within a week of their appointments.

With ModMed, both claim turnaround time and getting bills paid are exponentially faster. It’s simple; it cuts out the middleman, and I love that. For example, a patient called me the other day asking about the ASC bill for his surgery. His surgery was on November 2, and the claim submission from our doctors through ModMed went out on November 3. The patient paid in full one week from the date of submission, but he still hasn’t received a bill from our ASC facility, which does not use ModMed, over a month later.

With ModMed, both claim turnaround time and getting bills paid are exponentially faster. It’s simple; it cuts out the middleman, and I love that.

Advice for Future Practice Innovators

For practices currently using ModMed, if anyone in your office feels they need extra training, I would point them to ModMed Communities. There are so many answers there just waiting for you. It’s extremely beneficial. When my colleagues come to me with an issue, I almost never need to enter a support ticket because I can use the info on the knowledge forum to fix it myself. I love learning about technology, and I’m proud to be recognized by my colleagues as someone who can keep us running smoothly.

I would also advise anyone passionate about improving practice operations to set aside some time to learn the “whys” of your software. You can’t go wrong when you dedicate yourself to continuous learning. I love ModMed. I want to learn everything about it so I can support my practice in different ways and make their lives easier.

Learn more about our ModMed HEROs.

The statements and conclusions contained herein reflect the opinions of Samantha Luberto and not those of ModMed. ModMed makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy of any such information. Results may vary depending on medical practice size, product usage and other variables.