Calko Medical Center

Concept

The novel concept behind Calko Medical Center is to provide higher-quality, yet more cost-efficient care for our patients while simultaneously improving patient satisfaction and results – a win-win for patients and doctors alike. In a general hospital there exists an umbrella administration and medical staff with innumerable individual departments and functions. Often, there are too many functions involved for the hospital to operate efficiently. Calko Medical Center, which enjoys state approval, will change that.

The Problem With Today's Healthcare Facilities

Every hospital is in a partnership with its physicians. Many hospitals concentrate on in-patient care, from which they generate a significant percentage of income, while reducing outpatient care and shedding administrative and staffing responsibilities -- and related costs. This allows a hospital to concentrate on its core business of in-patient care, while also enabling it to maintain a steady, sizable income stream from outpatient procedures and ancillary services (radiology and pathology, for example). This also permits the physician partner, who can improve efficiency, to share in the cost benefits he creates.

Every hospital procedure is reimbursed by insurance companies in two separate ways. First, a "facility fee" is paid to the hospital to cover expenses, such as nursing staff, supplies, utilities and insurance. Second, there are "professional fees.” Every doctor participating in an operation bills insurance companies separately for their services. So, for example, an insurance company must separately pay the fees of a surgeon and anesthesiologist involved in the same surgery. The inefficiency here is that neither party has a vested interest in the other’s efficiency. A physician would obviously like as many nurses as possible, regardless of what’s truly needed, and will often use unnecessary equipment. Remarkably, there is no penalty for physicians if they show up late or waste supplies, medication or valuable operating-room time. Patient satisfaction is important, but physicians can -- and more often than not do -- blame delays on the hospital.

Meanwhile, the hospital itself has no vested interest in ensuring that the doctor works efficiently. They will leave the physician’s partner waiting due to unavailable operating rooms, unavailable equipment, and even inefficient scheduling. If a doctor has inefficient personnel, such as techs or nurses, in on a procedure, there is no realistic method to remove them and hire more efficient individuals.

How Calko Medical Center Is Different

At the Calko Medical Center, these too-common and unproductive ways have been dispensed with. Each specialist has an ownership interest in his or her own area in which specific procedures are performed. The physician performing the operation will also be part owner of Calko Medical Center, along with other physicians of his specialty, who are fellow hospital partners. If a physician is late and wastes operating room time, he, as well as his partners, will be financially responsible. The pressure from peers (fellow owners who risk losing money) as well as the direct financial costs will ensure that he is as efficient and productive as possible. The physician is also responsible for the hiring and termination of staff members, which will further guarantee heightened proficiency. Everyone works harder when their boss is watching. As a result, the physician-owner will be better able to replace less-efficient personnel with more productive members.

Supplies will be used in an optimal way at all times, with incentives to not waste supplies. Oversight, along with personal liability and complete responsibility for patient satisfaction, will be set in place to maintain the highest standards of excellence.

Efficiency in Numbers

Calko Medical Center will be one of the country’s largest centers for gastroenterology procedures. We have 15,000 such procedures scheduled to be carried out by our 10 gastroenterologists, and expect to reach a level of 20,000 procedures per year. Our physicians are among New York City’s busiest and most-respected gastroenterologists.

The radiology center will be run by a corporation in order to maximize efficiency. The hospital runs one center. RadNet, the nation’s largest manager of outpatient radiology centers, will bring its expertise and will be more competent in operating a radiology center efficiently than if they were to manage the technical component (i.e., staff management, equipment purchase, etc.). Note: Calko Medical Center will still generate significant income from the reading of the films (the professional component).

First-class Patient Care

Calko Medical Center cannot overstate our commitment to first-class patient care achieved as efficiently as possible. With films stored on a central computer, images and reports will be instantaneously accessible to emergency room physicians, allowing such improvements as more rapid diagnosis and cost saving by not repeating unnecessary x-rays. Additionally, our new patient-care system starts off by treating patients like hotel guests. Patients arriving at Calko Medical Center by car will not need to search for a parking spot. Rather, a valet will meet their car at the entrance and park it at in one of our facility’s ample indoor parking spaces. In fact, the facility will be a $54 million complex dedicated to optimal patient care and safety. We’ve also installed an unusually high number of elevators, which will cut wait time dramatically, thus decreasing the frustration we have all encountered waiting for one in a busy atmosphere.

RadNet, along with the entire Maimonides radiology group, will control the new 10,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art radiology center, complete with the newest digital equipment. Dr Robert Kalter will run one of the country’s most-modern pathology centers and laboratories. Instead of waiting days for results, all pathology will be done on site with a less-than-24-hour turnaround time, improving patient satisfaction. Urgent results will obtainable within hours, sometimes allowing the diagnosis of cancer or other serious illnesses before the patient even leaves the center.

On the 4th floor there will be five endoscopy and colonoscopy procedure rooms, each with the most up-to-date equipment. Two specially designed operating rooms will support state-of-the-art, incision-free robotic surgeries. The 5th floor will house Brooklyn’s highest-quality fertility center, run by Dr. Richard Grazi and Dr. David Seifer of Genesis Fertility. The 6th floor will feature the orthopedic department, run by Dr. Jack Choueka and Maimonides Medical Center Orthopedic Group. There will be operating rooms dedicated solely to orthopedic use, and like every other procedure/operating room at Calko Medical Center, it will contain today’s highest-quality equipment. The 7th floor will consist of individual physician offices and the Motility and Nutrition Center that will manage the nutritional needs of patients with impaired swallowing and other digestive disorders. Finally, floors 8 and 9 will contain other specialty physician groups, as well as an alternative medical center.

Welcome to the highest-quality patient care and most technologically advanced medical facility in New York City. Welcome to Calko Medical Center.