Of the many costs you seek to control in your surgical center, you might not pay much attention to your monthly electric bill. I didn't either, until our bill went through the roof when we ran our HVAC 24 hours a day during a very humid stretch of weather in an effort to keep our ORs cool. I called the electric company and asked what, if anything, we could do to lower bills that reached as high as $13,000 per month. Much to my surprise, several different rate structures were available - all I had to do was ask. The electric company even analyzed our peak and non-peak usage and determined the best plan for a business such as ours that's open only during business hours Monday through Friday. Since we adjusted our basic charge and what we pay per kilowatt hour, we've been saving about $1,000 a month. The lesson: Don't limit yourself in your thinking on items you thought weren't negotiable.

Diana Ellison, MBA, CASC
Executive Director
Hamden Surgery Center
Hamden, Conn.
writeMail("dellison@srhs.org")