Ways to Keep Your GI ASC Profitable: Q&A With Catherine Sayers of Pinnacle III

Q: GI has been hard hit by declining reimbursements, especially in the ASC setting, in the last few years. What has your center done to address these concerns?

Catherine Sayers: Our endoscopy center has concentrated on increasing case volume and, as always, maintaining our costs at the lowest level possible. Because a large portion of the costs in an endoscopy center are fixed costs, the increased volume helps offset those fixed costs and incrementally increases the profit margin. Our center has always focused on maintaining costs, and this is even more important with declining reimbursements.  Equipment and supply standardization is key to cost effectiveness. Proper scope handling and care to reduce repair costs is also critical to maintaining and lowering costs.  

Maintaining appropriate staffing levels is also a major contributor to keeping costs in check. When the center has no scheduled cases, the only staff members in the facility are the nurse manager and scheduling personnel. All clinical staff are "cancelled" or sent home.

Q: Recent reports have also indicated that there could be a shortage of GI physicians over the next few years. How has your center addressed recruiting and brought in new physicians/cases to the center?  

CS: Our center is next door to the GI physicians' office, so those physicians bring all their cases to the center. The majority of these physicians are also investors in the center. I believe offering ownership to physicians in an efficiently run, profitable center is an excellent recruiting tool.

Q: What advice do you have for single-specialty GI ASCs that may be intimidated by reimbursement/regulatory issues?

CS: A single-specialty GI/endoscopy center is certainly different than a single-specialty orthopedic center. Reimbursement for orthopedic procedures has increased significantly, while reimbursement for GI procedures has decreased significantly.  My advice for any group considering opening an ASC (single- or multi-specialty) is to know and understand the regulatory requirements (CMS and state agencies) and to conduct a thorough feasibility study.

Learn more about Skyline Endoscopy Center.

Learn more about Pinnacle III.