Cardiovascular procedures are ASCs' next frontier, as more high-acuity procedures become approved for the outpatient setting.
Alfonso del Granado, administrator and CEO of Covenant High Plains Surgery Center in Lubbock, Texas, joined Becker's to discuss why his team is looking to add a cardiology service line and the challenges behind adding new procedures.
Editor's note: These responses were edited lightly for clarity and length.
Question. What are the biggest challenges to adding new service lines to ASCs?
Alfonso del Granado: From a practical standpoint, I think the biggest challenge right now is the labor market. First, finding enough experienced nurses and techs to increase capacity can be daunting even when working with established service lines, but doing so while simultaneously launching a new service line can be especially challenging as you seek to underpin your program with people whom you’ve recently met and whose culture and dedication are not always known. That you may be investing a significant amount of capital along with your valuable time and effort only adds to the stress.
Q: Why did your team choose to add cardiology as a service line? What are you most looking forward to with the addition?
AG: We believe that cardiology represents the single largest driver of new cases and new revenues on the horizon – nothing else comes close to being able to move the needle as quickly as cardiovascular. We are working diligently with our joint venture partners and our local cardiology community to build a solid program that will not just be able to perform the current array of ASC-authorized procedures with the same level of high quality and cost-effectiveness that drives all of our service lines, but be positioned to benefit from expected additions to the CMS covered procedures list whether these are authorized this year or next. The trend is inevitable, and we don’t want to miss the opportunity.