2008 was a remarkable year for surgery centers.
- The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) officially changed payment systems and rates for ambulatory surgical centers.
- CMS implemented new conditions of coverage for surgery centers.
- The healthcare system moved to a point where there are more ambulatory surgery centers nationally than there are hospitals.
- There was a changing of the guard in Washington, D.C., which may have very substantial impacts on the long-term healthcare system.
- There were a series of attacks by payors and states against out-of-network activity.
- The nation faced a severe credit crisis that stopped several surgery center projects in their tracks and, overall, had a relatively small effect on day to day operations of surgery centers but a much larger impact on the transaction market for surgery centers and mergers and acquisitions nationally.
We hope that 2009 will be a terrific year for the surgery center industry and business. We see numerous new evolving opportunities for surgery centers. We continue to see more surgery centers develop, and more finding new means to reduce costs, outsource certain operations and make dramatic improvements in their operations. In many situations, we see surgery centers operating in a smarter manner than ever before.
We always welcome the feedback of our readers, our advertisers and our critics. Should you have any questions or have anything you would like to share with us, please email me at sbecker@mcguirewoods.com.
Very truly yours,
Scott Becker
P.S. We are hosting the 7th Annual Orthopedic, Spine and Pain Management Focused Ambulatory Surgery Center Conference from June 11 – 13 at the Westin Hotel in Chicago. Should you desire information about that event, please call me at 312-750-6016 or email me at sbecker@mcguirewoods.com.