Summer/Fall 2018


Vol. 2, No. 2 ASC PHYSICIAN FOCUS


AN ASCA PUBLICATION >> Contents


• Recent Trends Affecting the Value of ASCs...................................................2


• Send Your Team to ASCA’s 2019 Winter Seminar ...................................2


• Importance of Data Collection and Analysis in Outpatient Arthroplasty .........................................3


• US House Passes ASC Payment Transparency Act of 2018................3


• Protecting Your Interests in a Hospital Joint Venture .....................4


• Repurposing of Properties for Medical Facilities on the Rise .........4


Message from the CEO


payment rule for ASCs and hospital outpatient departments.


We are pleased to see CMS address several long-standing priorities for ASCs on issues including the alignment of ASC and hospital outpatient department update factors and reimbursement for device-intensive procedures. Commentary in the proposed rule also demonstrates greater recognition of the quality and value ASCs provide than we have seen in any previous rule.


ASCA members can read more about the proposal and its impact on individual ASCs in an interview published on ASCA’s website.


Not a member? I encourage you to sign up today. Your support is essential to our future efforts on behalf of your ASC. Learn more.


Bill Prentice Chief Executive Officer


On July 25, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the 2019 proposed


Marketing to the Next Generation of ASC Surgeons


Four ASC leaders share ideas for recruiting young surgeons to surgery centers.


Vivek Mahendru, MD, Board- Certified Anesthesiologist and Chief Business Development Officer of Pain Specialists of America in Austin, Texas: I recommend taking several steps. Allow these progressive doctors to have ownership in your ASCs. Provide a timely start time, turnover time and discharge time for their patients.


The overall patient experience should be so profound that patients highly recommend the surgeon and the facility; you can’t expect better marketing than from consumers themselves. Hold seminars and meet and greets, do an open house of your center and showcase the talent of your doctors who are bringing state-of-the- art technology and skill sets to your facility and community.


Finally, consider what Simon Sinek said: “People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it.”


Hugo Ribot, Jr., MD, Founder and Medical Director, and Renee Wolk, RN, Clinical Director, of Georgia Advanced Surgery Center for Women in Cartersville, Georgia: Surgeons and patients with the good fortune to have access to ASCs invariably prefer that setting over hospitals. The multiple reasons why this is so should be trumpeted to the next generation of surgeons. Efficiency, streamlining, consistent outcomes, dedicated teams, unmatched patient satisfaction and lower cost of care are inarguable. An ever-increasing number of complex and advanced procedures are now routinely performed in ASCs, including total joints and hysterectomies.


Not to be ignored is the potential for additional revenue in a world of declining professional reimbursement.


These should be strong incentives for the next generation of (often debt- laden) surgeons.


Joseph Rodriguez, CRNA, Medical Director of Tri-City Surgery Center in Prescott, Arizona, and Managing Partner of Arizona Anesthesia Solutions: Administrators should focus on “the customer” and work backwards to their facility—that is, find out what the surgeon truly needs and work from there. Don’t simply look at your openings and try to fill the gaps. If you know more about a surgeon’s goals, you’ll know what will work well for them.


When an administrator takes the time to recognize the surgeon’s situation, the surgeon can also begin to see the ASC perspective. With this approach, ASC administrators build relationships that are conducive to the goals of both parties.


And of course, use communication that younger surgeons are comfortable with—text messages are often preferred!


Joy Taylor, Chief Operating Officer of Polaris Spine & Neurosurgery Center in Atlanta, Georgia: ASCs should sell younger surgeons on the value of ASC ownership. It provides a means for them to chart their own courses and change the fundamental mathematics of their careers. Through specialization, technological efficiency and increased staff engagement, ASCs enable surgeons to do more procedures in the same amount of time and benefit from garnering a part of the facility fees on the cases they are already performing.


On a deeper level, being able to make a center “your own” is a unique opportunity that should be appealing to these surgeons. Providing a place to treat patients that reflects who you are gives greater meaning to the care experience.


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