Stefan Kreuzer, MD, the owner and founder of Inov8 Orthopedics in Houston, joined "Becker's Ambulatory Surgery Centers Podcast'' to discuss how big corporations are affecting the ability of private practices to provide adequate care.
This is an excerpt of the podcast. Download the full episode here.
Question: What are you most excited about and what makes you nervous?
Dr. Stefan Kreuzer: I'm most excited to grow what we have been able to do at Inov8. We have now done 700 total joints in a year and a half. We've had zero infections. We have two robotic platforms — which no other hospital institution has in the Houston market. I'm really excited about expanding that platform and driving robotics.
What I'm most concerned about is the continuation of the marginalization of physicians by big corporations. When we call an insurance company to try to find a partnership, we don't get a phone call back. We are the entity that sees a patient in-clinic and are involved in the care of the patient, but we continue to get marginalized by big corporations.
If it's the big insurance companies that are a necessary partner, it's all about rates and not about how to pay us adequately. If it's the large hospital systems, they try to drown private practices out and make it so difficult that we have to become an employed model. There's also the enormous amount of spending from the government with these packages, which I'm neither for nor against. The money has to come from somewhere, and if it's Medicare, it impacts all of our rates and further reduces our reimbursement in private practice.