Alfonso del Granado, administrator of Covenant High Plains Surgery Center in Lubbock, Texas, discussed his priorities and plans for 2022 with Becker's ASC Review.
Editor's note: This interview was lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Question: What are your top priorities for 2022?
Alfonso del Granado: First, although it is tempting to sit back and cruise for a year or two following two tough years, we are actually growth-focused for 2022. We are looking at additional service lines and revenue streams, as well as major investments in these areas. Second, we are also going to be replacing or upgrading existing equipment and instrumentation, plans which were put on hold over the past two years and cannot be delayed any further. Third, we are going to upgrade our data analytics capabilities to improve efficiency across all departments.
Q: What are you most looking forward to in 2022?
Mr. del Granado: In a word: earnings. Our partners have made significant sacrifices over the past two years to keep our staff on board, and we need to get as close to normal as possible. Because of the major investments we plan to make, we will be relying on financing options more heavily than in the past.
We generally price out three or more competitive offerings, including the manufacturer or vendor when they offer incentives, our usual banking partners and third-party lenders that may have special programs available. Although our modeling tends to be fairly precise, we do have one rule of thumb that fast-tracks approval — when the interest rate is at or below projected inflation. Perhaps surprisingly, this happens more often than one might expect.