Catherine Retzbach, BSN, RN, is Director of ASC Operations at Marlton, N.J.-based Virtua Health.
Ms. Retzbach will serve on the panel “Being the High Quality, Low Cost Site of Care Isn't Enough: What ASCs Need Next” at Becker’s ASC Annual Meeting. As part of an ongoing series, Becker’s is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference on Oct. 27-29 in Chicago.
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Question: What are you most excited about right now and what makes you nervous?
Catherine Retzbach: What is most exciting is the opportunity to expand services offered in an ASC. As CMS allows more procedures to be performed in centers, it gives centers the option to be open for more procedures. Cardiology and spine procedures offer patients more options to have procedures be performed in a high quality low cost environment. What makes me nervous is the cost of supplies rising more than reimbursements. Also, the physician and staffing shortages that everyone is experiencing. It makes it difficult to grow if you do not have staff to care for the patients.
Q: What will healthcare executives and leaders need to be effective leaders for the next five years?
CR: Leaders and executives will need to be flexible and focused regarding how they want their centers to succeed. Change is always difficult, so it takes dedication and focus to achieve change. Adding service lines takes research and commitment. Also, sometimes difficult decisions need to be made, such as decreasing days of service if volume does not warrant being open every day. If you want to add a new service line, will you have enough procedures performed to cover the costs? The next five years will bring more private equity involvement along with consolidation so leaders will need to stay on top of business trends and regulatory updates.