Fall/Winter 2018


New Specialty By Chris McMenemy, CASC


Does this equipment advertisement sound familiar? “Like-new microscope for sale. Very limited use. Purchased for


a physician who joined our surgery center but left after only three months. Great buy! Contact me with questions.”


Selling new equipment shortly after its purchase is probably not what this ASC had in mind when adding a new specialty to its surgery center. And although a physician’s three-month stay may be a more extreme case, it’s not unusual to recruit and lose physicians within a year of the union. How can your organization ensure that adding a new specialty will be a winning experience rather than a waste of time and money?


Don’t rush to bring physicians onboard. The vetting process is as important as the recruiting process. While it’s easy to get excited about the new specialty and physician group that can bring additional cases and revenue, don’t become so involved in selling the center to the new physicians that you forget to ask the physicians to sell themselves to you.


Get to know the potential physicians. Do their values and practices align with your surgery center and its physicians? Is patient care and patient safety a priority? Do the physicians have a reputation of treating staff appropriately and complying with a facility’s standards of practice? Does the new group seem like it will mesh with the center’s existing physician(s)? Rely on your own impressions but also ask others who have practiced or worked with the new physicians. Communicate to the new group the practices and values of your center and its medical staff. You don’t want to be faced with staff or other physicians leaving because of a difficult work environment.


Assess the new group’s commitment. Adding a new


4 ASC PHYSICIAN FOCUS


specialty requires investments: equipment, instruments, supplies, staffing education and possibly infrastructure improvements. It’s reasonable to expect the new group’s commitment to your surgery center’s success.


Here is where communication is so important. The new group should understand investments will be made on its behalf and be willing to spend the time necessary to carefully communicate its needs. It’s a bad omen when a group will not share preference cards and equipment needs or is unwilling to perform mock cases with the staff before day one of surgery.


Prepare current physicians for change. Existing physicians must be prepared for the changes a new specialty can bring to the center before the new group begins working at the center. These physicians must be part of the decision to bring the new specialty group into the center. As noted, adding the new group will likely require an upfront investment. Owners need to be prepared for these costs and supportive of decisions made concerning these investments. Shifts in block schedules may be necessary, with preferred staff members possibly shifting to other operating rooms (ORs). Delays may occur as staff adjust to new procedures and workflows.


Existing physicians need to be prepared for these challenges and come across as welcoming to the new group, despite any initial issues. If resentments or irritations show during the first weeks of the new specialty launch, it may take months before things settle down.


Make sure staff members are also prepared. Some staff will likely be moved to areas that present unfamiliar workflows and require training. Education will need to cover everything from patient care, organizing ORs, preparing case carts to speaking with patients and families on new procedures. The ASC’s leadership must also define expectations for staff behavior and practices. The new group should feel the center is organized and adequately prepared for its arrival.


Without preparation and communication, bringing a new physician or group into the center can turn chaotic quickly. Remember, you only get one chance at a great beginning.


Chris McMenemy, CASC, is president of Ortmann Healthcare Consulting Services in Columbia, South Carolina. Write her at chris.mcmenemy@ortmannhealth.com.


The advice and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author(s) and do not represent official Ambulatory Surgery Center Association policy or opinion.


Online Tool Provides Average Medicare Prices for ASC and HOPD Procedures


The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently launched a new, free online tool that provides a comparison of Medicare payments and copayments for certain outpatient surgical procedures performed in ASCs and hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs).


Required by Congress as part of the 21st


Century Cures Act, which ASCA championed and was signed into law in December 2016, the Procedure Price Lookup tool displays the national averages for the amount Medicare pays a hospital or ASC and the national average


copayment amount a beneficiary with no Medicare supplemental insurance would pay the provider.


While CMS states that the tool, part of the agency’s eMedicare initiative, is intended to help consumers weigh cost differences when selecting the settings for their care, ASCs can leverage the information in marketing to help further differentiate themselves as a high-quality, low-cost option for surgery.


Access the search tool.


Vol. 2, No. 3 Addressing Physician Dynamics When Adding a


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