Skyway Surgery Center It's About the People

The prospect of scheduling surgery can be scary enough on its own; couple that with the idea of having it performed in a large, unfamiliar, and often expensive hospital, and the idea can quickly become overwhelming. Skyway Surgery Center is ready to help alleviate your fears by offering a more comfortable and cost-effective alternative to hospital-based surgeries and procedures.

Raymond Yip, M.D. is an anesthesiologist and serves as the medical director of the Skyway Surgery Center. Originally from Hollister, California, Dr. Yip completed his anesthesiology residency at Loma Linda University and then became part of the teaching staff there. He had wanted to eventually move to Northern California and says, “Chico was intriguing because it had a Level 2 trauma center and an open heart program.” He was also drawn to the small town feel surrounded by agriculture while juxtaposed with the cultural events brought into the area by the university. Dr. Yip relocated to Chico in July of 1991 and says, “This is home. We’ve raised our boys here.”

Because people have a choice in which facility their surgery can be performed, Dr. Yip and a group of other doctors established the Skyway Surgery Center in July of 2004 with ease and comfort in mind. They wanted to create an environment that allowed them to be more intimately involved in patient care. As an anesthesiologist working in a hospital, Dr. Yip would see patients before surgery but then wouldn’t see them again once their operation was complete. He felt it was difficult to make any real patient connections in that environment. However, he says at Skyway, “I see you come in at the beginning during pre-op. We take you into surgery, then we talk to you and your families in recovery. It’s just way more personable. It’s important to us, and we want to take care of people.”

Skyway Surgery Center has more than fifty physicians dedicated to caring for the community. When the staff first makes contact with an interested client, they speak with the patient and their referring physician in order to obtain a clear and concise health history. They want to ensure patients meet the criteria required to have the procedure done outside of the hospital. Their surgical outcomes are some of the highest in the area and among the top throughout the country. Dr. Yip shares that safety is their number one concern and having surgery done at an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) is safer, more efficient, and much less expensive than having it done at a hospital, even if it is through the hospital’s outpatient facility. It is a multi-specialty center with physicians boarded in anesthesiology, ENT, ophthalmology, pediatric dentistry, orthopedics, podiatry, psychiatry, general surgery, and urology.

The surgeries and procedures offered at the center are extensive. Their GI specialists perform common procedures needed to examine the health of the gastrointestinal tract including colonoscopies and esophagogastoduodenoscopies (EGDs). Their psychiatrist is one of the few in Northern California who offers Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) and patients travel from around the Northstate to take advantage of this treatment. Their general surgeons perform hernia repairs, cholecystectomies and provide dialysis access. Their orthopedic surgeons perform knee arthroscopies, ACL repairs, carpal tunnel surgery, total knee, and total hip replacements as well. The total joint replacement surgeries cost significantly less when performed at the Skyway Surgery Center.

Prior to opening, Dr. Yip and his associates understood that the costs of healthcare were astronomical and by opening a purely outpatient surgical center, they could create a viable business while patients would be able to pay a fraction of the normal costs associated with surgeries. Administrator Marissa Long shares that the primary benefit of coming to a surgery center is the cost savings, “Sometimes a hospital can be two- to-three times as expensive as it is at an ambulatory surgery center.” Jill Prius, Skyway Surgery Center’s director of business operations says, “There are so many procedures that don’t necessarily have to be done at a hospital, that can be done faster, safer, and cheaper at an ambulatory service center.” Most hospitals will admit patients who are in for surgeries resulting in additional costs and stresses associated with being away from home while an ASC allows patients to leave with family or friends following their procedure.

In addition to providing more economical and connected care, the founding physicians wanted to create a positive work culture where employees enjoy their work and actually want to come in every day. Jill says she was working at a private billing company when her husband had surgery at the center. She was impressed with how everything was handled and when she heard there was an opening in the business office, she immediately applied. “The fact that it's a big family, with the staff and our patients, that’s the best.”

Shannon Zwald, RN, BSN, and Assistant Clinical Director says she joined Skyway initially because she wanted to change out of the acute care setting she had previously been working in, and friends had very positive things to say about their experiences working at the center. “Everyone’s like a big, close-knit family, and you get to know the patients better. It’s a really supportive group of people.”

Marissa shares that they make an effort to celebrate and advocate for their employees. “We do a lot of lunches, recognitions, and little things to let our employees know they are valued.”

Dr. Yip remembers his mentor Richard Hamamura who was so patient-focused. “He said, ‘You take care of people. Nothing else really matters at the end of the day.’ Nothing in life goes without people, the business office, its people; administration, its people; nursing, its people. It’s rewarding; it really is.” The doctors who own Skyway Surgery Center are very hands-on and actively try to make the center a positive place to work and a positive place for patients. “We want to take care of people.”

If an individual is interested in finding out if they are a good candidate for surgery at an outpatient center, there are several ways to schedule a procedure. They can ask their primary surgeon to refer them to perform the procedure at Skyway Surgery Center, or they can call the center to get a list of doctors’ contact numbers who have privileges at the facility. They can also complete the contact form on Skyway Surgery Center’s website and then receive information on how to schedule their preliminary appointment and procedure.

Skyway Surgery Center is located at 121 Raley Boulevard in Chico. They can be reached by phone at (530) 230-2000 and visited online at www.skywaysurgerycenter.com.