Within the ASC market, many centers are partnering with hospitals and health systems or taking on an ASC management and development company partner to stay afloat in the volatile, evolving healthcare landscape. Forming joint ventures presents an opportunity for both parties to benefit in various facets.
With this growth of merger and acquisition activity comes more opportunities for health IT.
"Many of hospital systems will request from ASCs that if you partner with us, you must adopt an EHR," says Nelson Gomes, founder, president and CEO of Rutherford, N.J.-based PriorityOne Group. "Hospital systems provide ASCs with resources in order to adopt technology. If the hospital has skin in the game, they are more willing to make those investments."
PriorityOne Group, an IT service provider celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2017, partnered with its first surgery center in New Jersey in 2009. Over the past eight years, it has served dozens of de novo and existing ASCs throughout the Northeast. When working with a de novo center, Mr. Gomes notes PriorityOne Group meets with the center's physician, administrative and nursing staff to discuss the center's clinical workflow and develops a plan on technology adoption that can impact how the ASC operates at its maximum efficiency.
"We map clinical workflow with technology and see how they pair up," he says. "In the past, the technology in ASCs was centered primarily around practice management and scheduling. We have seen a big turn on the clinical side where centers are increasingly looking at technologies to help in areas including measuring and managing case, operating and procedure room turnover times."
Such technologies, including EHRs, can provide a surgery center with a wealth of information. ASCs can use this data to enhance patient safety and outcomes; reduce costs and increase profitability; improve regulatory and accreditation compliance; and provide extensive data for benchmarking performance internally and compare with other ASCs. These benchmarking capabilities are particularly useful for ASC management companies and health systems that use the data to compare their centers around the nation.
"These organizations are using business intelligence data and analytic technology solutions to compare key performance indicators, both financial and clinical," Mr. Gomes says. "Data is king, and organizations want the ability to access data, extract it and compare it to previous quarters and review trends."
As surgical technology advances, ASCs are able to perform more and higher acuity cases on an outpatient basis. Surgeons are bringing a growing number of procedures in ASCs, and often want their surgery centers to have similar technology and tools as those used in hospitals, Mr. Gomes notes.
"Physicians like to have audio and video capabilities in the operating room. The adoption of technology of all types is being considered in healthcare, from those designed to enhance the patient experience to those intended to address clinical needs in the OR," Mr. Gomes says. "As a technology company in the ASC space, we are seeing bigger ASCs in New York City investing in technology and seeing positive results."
As health systems, management organizations and development companies continue to target ASCs for acquisition, technology will play a bigger role in whether parties follow through with deals. Mr. Gomes notes technology was often an afterthought when forming joint ventures or acquiring facilities. Now, the shifting healthcare landscape and demand to provide data to receive payment will make technology a top priority.
"We are seeing many mergers, and are more involved in these deals than ever before. In the past, there was so much focus on finances, and people often forget about IT," Mr. Gomes says. "But when a detailed IT assessment is performed, buyers may find they inherited a big IT mess. We advise our clients to not take IT lightly when considering mergers. When organizations are proactive in addressing technology needs, they will reduce the likelihood of deficiencies that could lead to higher costs, less effective operations and even security problems."