Physician-hospital joint venture ASCs are continuing to grow in popularity, Medical Consulting Group's Robert McCarville and Stephen Sheppard said in a December article published by EyeWorld.
Mr. McCarville and Mr. Sheppard identified four reasons hospitals and health systems are embracing ASC joint ventures:
1. Health systems can cultivate better relationships with physicians by working with them as business partners, in turn helping to prevent poaching, facilitate recruitment and limit new competition.
2. Partnering to develop an ASC or buying into an existing center allows hospitals to retain a significant percentage of the revenue they might otherwise lose to physician-owned ASCs.
3. Performing lower-acuity cases in an ASC allows hospitals to keep operating rooms open for "high-ticket" procedures, and it provides a more economical alternative to developing more OR space.
4. Because of payment caps that several large payers have instituted for some high-volume procedures, a procedure done in a hospital outpatient department may be reimbursed at a lower level than it would be in an ASC.