ASCs, hospitals, health systems and investment groups have increasingly looked to joint venture partnerships over the past year as a strategy for growing practices and expanding access to care.
Outpatient surgery was the top service line for joint partnerships in a VMG Health survey of healthcare leaders earlier this year, and Becker's has reported on at least 55 hospitals and health systems that opened ASCs in 2023 alone.
Several leaders joined Becker's on a Nov. 2 panel at the 30th annual Business and Operations of ASCs Meeting in Chicago to discuss the benefits and challenges of joint ventures for ASCs.
"There are definitely benefits to partnering with a large health system," said Beth Inman, MSN, director of nursing for Akron, Ohio-based Summa Health System.
"As far as contract pricing for supplies and equipment, there are several experts in the system we collaborate with," she continued. "We can bring new knowledge [to] the ASC and also access increased resources, such as educational programs and training advancement."
Ms. Inman added that ASCs looking to partner with larger health systems should carefully consider a potential partner’s values and mission, as well as likely changes to oversight, policies and procedures.
"If you're used to being very much on your own, there is more oversight," she said. "There can be struggles with allocation of block time regarding hospitals, where cases go, where doctors go, and sometimes competing priorities with capital resources."
For smaller ASCs, in particular, leaders stressed the importance of evaluating potential partners' intentions and goals.
"You have to ask yourself what's the incentive for them if they're not going to be generating a huge revenue stream to help support the big sister, the big hospital," said Kenneth Candido, MD, professor of surgery and anesthesiology at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago.
"The oversight is the issue that you really have to be very careful with when they try to control how you manage the flow of your cases, how they manage your business model," he added.
One way to preserve autonomy for small ASCs entering joint ventures is to have a "physician champion" within leadership who can ensure that procedures and policies align with the workflow and values of ASC physicians and providers.
Ms. Inman said a physician leader was key in purchasing equipment for her ASC, which ultimately led to higher efficiency and profit for the facility.
"He was the main driver of this," she said. "And that's really what we would take away. Again, having that strong physician champion and their desire to continue to grow their practice and learning how to spot those folks early."