The ASC landscape has seen steady growth over the past decade, but the pandemic introduced heightened uncertainty into planning for the future. Meredith Warf, vice president of ASC operations at U.S. Orthopaedic Partners in Madison, Miss., told "Becker's ASC Review Podcast" that she thinks consolidation can be a reliable strategy for ASCs.
Note: This is an edited excerpt. Listen to the full podcast episode here.
Question: What will be the key to growth for you over the next three to five years or so?
Meredith Warf: The key to growth for orthopedics, for U.S. Orthopaedic Partners, is we believe that consolidation is here. We're stronger together.
[It means] partnering with payers and health systems and whatever it takes to make sure we can create that ASC environment of quality patient care at the very lowest cost possible. It's being agile in an environment where everything is changing.
[There's a quote] that said, "Never let a crisis go to waste." Throughout the COVID mentality, in any sector of the industry, if we could look at the positive side of that, COVID propelled the shift in care to the ASC. I think everyone across the country is seeing that. And so we had to be ready for that five-year plan that became our one-year plan. So the key to the growth there is going to be helping other practices implement that same thing.