Lisa Cooper, principal of Advocare+ and CEO of Santa Cruz (Calif.) Surgery Center, dives into how surgery centers can successfully joint venture with hospitals and the core questions both parties should consider before forming such a partnership.
Question: What healthcare trends are making way for possible ASC-hospital partnerships?
Lisa Cooper: Historically, hospitals and ASCs have not always had aligned strategies that could co-exist peacefully. Ventures were established more out of a need to manage and/or control their coopetition relationship. Now, with the creation of bundled payments, value-based payments and other strategies there is a real business need for ASCs and hospitals to join together in true cooperation with aligned goals and measures.
Q: What differentiates a successful ASC-hospital partnership from an unsuccessful one?
LC: Before considering a joint venture I would encourage each party to ask themselves five questions anyone should ask before going into business with another party.
1. Do you share similar values?
2. Can you see value in what the other partner can bring to the relationship?
3. Do you have compatible business approaches?
4. Do you share the same vision of what success looks like?
5. Do you trust your partner?
If the answer is no to any of the above questions, then you may struggle to develop a successful JV. If you are currently in a JV and you answer no to any of the above, it may be time to bring in a third party to try to reconcile your differences in order to maximize your potential as an ASC-hospital joint venture. There has never been a better time I feel for JVs within healthcare, but only for those willing to work together.
Learn more from Ms. Cooper at the 24th Annual Meeting: The Business and Operations of ASCs in October 2017. Click here for more information.