Administrator: Deb Leib, CASC
Types of surgeries: Orthopedics, general, GYN, podiatry, GI, cystoscopy, ophthalmology, ENT and pain management.
Staff: 54 part-time, per diem and full-timers, including RNs, LPN, surgical techs and billing and administrative
Procedure rooms: One.
ORs: Five and one cysto room.
Operating surgeons: Sixty-four.
Monthly case volume: In 2002, the center averaged 695 cases. So far in 2003, the center has averaged 809 cases.
Years in operation: Three.
Ownership structure: A Limited Liability Company made up of 32 physician investors partnered with Pinnacle Health, a local hospital system.

Surgery with a sense of humor
To keep the mood light in her busy surgery center, Deb Leib, CASC, encourages her staff to have fun. Comical photos of surgeons, staff and patients decorate the walls of the center and fill photo albums in the waiting room.

Jacks of all trades
Performing more than 60 cases in a day requires employees who are willing to pitch in wherever they are needed. On the center's busiest days, surgeons have been known to help turn over the ORs to keep things running smoothly. Also, the nursing staff is cross-trained. "In the beginning there were some obstacles to cross-training," says Ms. Leib. "All our nurses had to become ACLS and PALS certified." Because the center didn't have staff to spare, training was also a challenge. Now that the facility is busier and has a larger staff, moving people to different areas to get experience is easier.

"I'm going to Disney World"
Staff members will be going on an expenses-paid trip to Disney World next month. The center will pay for their travel expenses as a bonus for meeting 2002 goals in five areas - case volume, attendance, patient satisfaction, supply costs and productivity. When it was time to vote for this year's incentive, staff selected taking a trip over money and paid time off.

Residency training
When physicians first proposed the idea that residents train at the center, administrators feared the residents would slow down surgeons and add costs. But thus far it has been a good experience. Most of the residents are orthopedic or general surgeons, and the center has a one-resident-per-OR policy.

Becoming bigger and better
To accommodate the large number of patients it serves, Susquehanna Valley will expand this summer. The project is expected to take three months and will add an OR and procedure room. The center is also taking this opportunity to build a patient-consultation room and modify the waiting room to comply with HIPAA privacy regulations.

- Kristin Royer