Amazon, Walmart and other companies aim to make healthcare more efficient and cost-effective, but are missing the surgery center industry entirely.

After physicians earn their medical degrees, most go on to complete several years of residency before diving into a specialty fellowship or beginning their practice.

The U.S. could face a shortage of 37,800 to 124,000 physicians by 2034, according to data released by the Association of American Medical Colleges in June

The two top physicians by caseload at a given ASC perform a median of 29 percent of the facility's cases, according to VMG Health's "Multi-Specialty ASC Benchmarking Study" for 2022. There are notable differences between regions, however.

Physicians may not use paintbrushes or pastels, but the techniques they use when treating patients show they are nothing short of artists. When their autonomy is taken away, what do physicians become?

As improvements are made in healthcare and its systems, surgeries and recovery periods grow shorter, but that's not the only way practices can increase their efficiency.

With increasing numbers of orthopedic procedures moving to ASCs, the relationship between health systems and orthopedic practices is evolving. Collaboration is becoming more important to ensure patients have access to the full spectrum of care, from outpatient settings for certain procedures to traditional hospital settings for more complex and higher-acuity cases.

If you're going to entrust your ASC billing to another company, you're going to want that company to be experts in revenue cycle management. That may seem obvious, but what can be a difference-maker between whether the company takes your ASC's revenue cycle performance to a higher level or leaves you in worse shape is the type of expertise the company brings to you.

With the term "value-based healthcare" buzzing around medical leaders' heads more and more, it seems emphasis is increasingly being placed on prevention instead of intervention.

The physician workforce is changing day by day. Here are 10 things to know about the current landscape:

Brentwood, Tenn.-based Surgery Partners landed 17 ASCs on Newsweek and global research firm Statista's list of America's best ASCs.

United Surgical Partners International, owned by Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, landed 12 ASCs on Newsweek and global research firm Statista's list of America's best ASCs. 

Geopolitical upheaval, economic trends and more are affecting surgery center operations.

The net accounts receivable for ASCs across the U.S. ranges from $742,000 to $930,000, depending on location, according to VMG Health's "Multi-Specialty ASC Benchmarking Study" for 2022.

Here are 10 ASC administrators to know:

United Surgical Partners International, including its parent company, Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare; Surgery Partners; and Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare are three of the largest ASC chains in the U.S. 

Optum spent the last decade investing in significant growth, adding thousands of physicians to its network and purchasing ASC company Surgical Care Affiliates in 2017. Now the company is focusing more on its primary care network, data offerings and $115 billion pharmacy and medical care business line.

Pauses in elective cases, staff shortages, and supply chain woes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have put hospitals under severe financial duress across the country, spurring the need to look for any opportunity to reduce costs.1,2 Throughout the turmoil, health systems have leaned heavily on anesthesia providers’ diverse skill set to tackle these challenges.

Javier Rodriguez, CEO of DaVita, a network of kidney care services and outpatient dialysis centers, landed the No. 2 spot on nonprofit shareholder advocacy group As You Sow's list of "overpaid" healthcare CEOs.

Physicians are essential to the healthcare system. They treat patients, perform surgery, write prescriptions and conduct research advancing the field.