Convenience, flexibility and efficiency are some of ASCs' greatest strengths. Combining these attributes with patient centricity, greater treatment variety and technology investments can lead a center to success, according to ASC leaders.
Three ASC leaders connected with Becker's to answer the question: "What trend should ASCs jump on next to be successful?"
Editor's note: Responses were edited lightly for clarity and brevity.
Robbie Allen. CEO of One GI (Nashville, Tenn.): ASCs should be moving rapidly in the direction of patient centricity — particularly around ease of interaction, comfort and perceived enjoyability of overall experience, and convenience of scheduling and follow-up. This is consistent with trends in healthcare writ large suggesting that patient convenience, access, and engagement in the experience of health and wellness care overall are increasingly becoming a focal point of industry leaders.
Cherise Brown. Administrator of Andover (Kan.) Ambulatory Surgery Center: The biggest trend facilities should jump on is becoming a multispecialty facility. If you have one specialty that isn't performing as well, you have other sources of revenue with other specialties. For instance, in summer months we see less ENT patients as children are out of school and not sharing germs. Whereas, we have seen an increase in plastic surgery cases this summer season. Medicare is slowly embracing the concept of outpatient surgery and each year more procedures are moved off of the inpatient-only list, which opens more opportunities to capture revenue year-round. Another trend worthy of mentioning is the growing demand for "one-stop shopping" from patients. Adding ancillary services such as imaging and pathology could make an ASC more attractive to patients, physicians and potential investors.
Matthew Ewasko. Administrator of Physicians Alliance Surgery Center (Cape Girardeau, Mo.): I believe that we should seek to maximize the greatest asset that ASCs currently possess, which is our operational efficiencies when compared to HOPDs. Investing in technology that can leverage this asset can pay off exponentially with our current and prospective patient populations. Making the whole surgical process easier on the patient by making the service more convenient should pay off in the long run by driving more patients to the ASC setting.