Physician recruitment is critical for ASC growth as surgeries continue to shift outpatient.
Four ASC leaders who joined Becker's Spine, Orthopedic & Pain Management-Driven ASC + The Future of Spine Conference, hosted June 8-17, discussed strategies in physician recruitment.
Editor's note: This piece was edited lightly for clarity and brevity.
Question: How much did the pandemic affect physician recruitment, and what tips do you have for ASCs?
Greg DeConciliis, CASC. Administrator of Boston Out-Patient Surgical Suites: For us, the pandemic had a tremendous effect. We repurposed ourselves and took in some of those doctors from hospitals that were down in our area. They were allowed to do their emergency cases. Inherently, they brought other procedures over as they could. Our solution was to put out the best product, have a really great environment for surgeons and get comfortable with them — the efficiencies, those types of things. We sold it in that fashion, and now we've kind of morphed into looking at what the future holds.
Chhaya Patel, MD. Medical Director of Satellite Boulevard Outpatient Surgery Center (Duluth, Ga.): From a physician perspective, I really think finances are important. You have to be financially competitive. A surgery center will always be more successful when it's a physician-driven surgery center with some ownership in it. And the other key is creating a culture — a culture where they want to come and work, where there are staff that are going to cater to them and meet the needs so that they can provide top-notch patient care.
Randy Reynolds, CPA, CASC. Senior Vice President of Field Operations for HealthCrest Surgical Partners (Edmond, Okla.): If you're going after doctors, you want to look at the ones that will be the most profitable first and those that you would have the equipment and instrument to do their cases. I would be looking for doctors that weren't employed or partnered in another surgery center. Also, you don't want to be in a situation where you're talking about bringing people in and you have no clue about what it's going to cost them or what's available.
From the standpoint of getting doctors in the facility, I think developing referral networks is important. If you can match up doctors with cases that need to be performed, or through some type of arrangement with employers or third-party administrators, then you have something to offer a doctor if you're trying to recruit.
Lianne McDowell, CASC. CEO and Administrator of South Portland Surgical Center (Tualatin, Ore.): It all goes back to physician involvement and investment because, not only are they financially invested, but they're very much mentally invested in wanting to make sure their center is a success from this physician experience.