Bundled payments, physician recruitment and space-sharing partnerships are challenges many ASCs tackle while also pursuing growth opportunities. At Becker's ASC 25th Annual Meeting: The Business and Operations of ASCs, Oct. 18-20 in Chicago, three panelists weighed in on how ASCs can capitalize on these growth opportunities.
The panelists included:
● Alfonso Del Granado, administrator for the Ashton Center for Day Surgery
● Woody Moore, founder of The Physician's Advocate, the Texas ASC Society and the Hawaii ASC Association.
● Bill Stewart, area vice president, value-based purchasing for DePuy Synthes, a Johnson & Johnson company
Here are the three biggest opportunities for ASCs:
Bundled payments. "Bundles are working," Mr. Stewart said. "The surgeon who is attracted to the outpatient space is the same surgeon who's going to be attracted to the bundles. You own the risk in the outpatient setting, so why not manage the post acute phase? It's a huge financial opportunity."
Mr. Del Granado echoed Mr. Stewart, commenting on how ASCs can build on bundled payments.
"For those who have been working with bundles for a while, the next step is risk management," Mr. Del Granado said. "If you have surgeons who have done the same procedure over and over again, you've got good outcomes and you know what your maximum exposure is, you can find a company to reinsure you."
Recruiting high-performing surgeons. "It's not always easy to find a good physician partner," Mr. Del Granado said. "Just counting on someone else's experience with that surgeon is not going to be enough."
Mr. Moore said making connections within the burgeoning ASC industry is one way to ensure future success.
"We have a very mature industry at this point," Mr. Moore said. "What I do is I help set up a partnership, looking for the right surgeons as well as getting to know the current physician partners. Also, allocating shares helps keep an eye on the horizon."
Space sharing arrangements. "We have just started developing partnerships with larger organizations that have their own ASCs, but are exceeding their capacity," Mr. Del Granado said. "So, rather than lose those cases to a hospital, they would prefer to enter some sort of partnership with us. One of our surgical centers is underutilized, so that's the one they're using."
Mr. Stewart touched on the potential pitfalls of space sharing arrangements.
"Most of the ASCs I work with are owned by an orthopedic or neurosurgical group," Mr. Stewart said. "Even then, when the [ASC] is within the same group, difficulties [exist] between the partners in figuring out how to manage the ASC. I can only imagine the complexity gets much more difficult when you're sharing the space with someone who's not from your group."