Freestanding ASCs are faced with mounting competition from hospitals, joint ventured surgery centers and other independent facilities. The rivalry is even more intense in densely populated metropolitan areas. Can freestanding ASCs still keep their doors open in cities that offer myriad options to increasingly savvy patients?
Magna Health Systems, a small management company, operates three freestanding surgery centers in Illinois. The company's 900 North Michigan Surgery Center is at the very heart of the city on Chicago's Magnificent Mile. Kenny Bozorgi, MD, COO and CIO of Magna Health Systems, offers insight into how the company's Chicago ASC has managed to remain competitive in one of the largest cities in the country.
The three surgery centers create a small network, which lends them more scale than a single center. The company leverages that infrastructure to compete like a larger organization, without sacrificing the personalized benefits of single center. The company's first center, Magna Surgical Center, opened in 1987, laying a firm foundation for the company's other centers. Since that first center has opened its doors, Dr. Bozorgi and his team have placed a premium on cost and overall efficiency – simple but effective ideas. "Being cost effective allows us to operate in an environment of lower payments," he says.
900 North Michigan Surgery Center and its sister centers also focus on technology adoption. The centers will be on an EHR within the year, in addition to already maintaining a paperless environment. "Having a more sophisticated IT environment is definitely a competitive advantage," says Dr. Bozorgi. Dr. Bozorgi has a master's degree in medical informatics and uses his formal training to guide the centers as CIO.
Many freestanding centers elect to take on a hospital partner or sell entirely to a hospital or health system. Magna Health Systems has never formally affiliated any of its centers with an outside partner, aside from its physician partners, but the company has found informal partnerships advantageous. "When we look back at the things that have differentiated us, one thing that really stands out is our bariatric program," says Dr. Bozorgi. One of the company's centers was one the forefront of lap-band surgery performed in the ASC setting. The program was developed in collaboration with several prominent bariatric surgeons in the state. These surgeons are not owners in the center – many are affiliated with larger health systems – but they saw the benefits of performing cases in a surgery center.
Mutually beneficial partnerships like this can allow a surgery center to carve out a market niche and set itself apart from the competition. "Every surgery center should look outside of its bubble," says Dr. Bozorgi.