For Deerfield, Ill.-based Surgical Care Affiliates, tackling staffing and consolidation challenges requires a focus on sustainability.
Oren Shill is president-elect of California Ambulatory Surgery Association's board of directors and group president of Surgical Care Affiliates. He joined Becker's ASC Review to discuss the biggest challenges in his market.
Question: What are some of the biggest threats to ASCs in your market?
Oren Shill: Shortages of healthcare providers and the ASC workforce is the biggest threat right now. The pandemic created significant staffing challenges for nurses and office staff, and we are also seeing an accelerated trend of practice consolidation, an aging healthcare workforce and changes in how physician specialists are focusing their practice.
Physician specialists are looking to enhance sustainability of their practices and see a series of benefits from participating in an integrated care delivery system and value-based care models. That means that ASCs must work hard to build awareness of their benefits, attract physician specialists and nurture the connections to value-oriented primary care doctors and payers to reinforce sitting of patient cases at ASCs. We are also making investments in talent acquisition, leadership programs and training for clinical and support teams to attract and retain top talent with compelling career growth opportunities.