Although pain management practices have recently faced considerable reimbursement challenges, ASCs can take steps to overcome these challenges by focusing on growing services and patient volume.
Here are three recommendations for growing pain management in ASCs in both single- and multi-specialty surgery centers.
1. Diversify pain treatment options.
Pain management physicians and facility administrators recommend that ASCs offer a wide range of treatment options in order to be attractive to an equally wide range of patients while considering the costs to the facility that come with offering the procedures.
“I think exclusive pain centers will need to focus on increasing volume for the next few years,” says Christine Yoder, director of Wyomissing (Pa.) Surgical Services. “Since we have been hit by reimbursement cuts pretty strongly, we need to figure out how to do what we do more economically without compromising quality.”
Diversification of procedures is also an option ASC should consider, says Julien Vaisman, MD, physician-owner of New England Pain Care in Peabody, Mass.
“Facilities must diversify their treatment options and have a large number of different procedures available to patients,” says Dr. Vaisman. “You’ve got to stay ahead of the game and be innovative,” he says. Dr. Vaisman recommends that centers consider offering procedures such as implantation of peripheral and spinal stimulators and verterbroplasty, if these procedures are not already offered.
Pain centers should use an evidence-based approach when adding new pain management procedures to their offerings.
“Procedures that have support in the scientific literature to be effective in a majority of cases are the ones that facilities should look to offer,” says Robert Wills, MD, of Austin (Texas) Pain Associates and physician-owner of Stonegate Surgery Center in Austin. “For example, facet medial branch radiofrequency thermocoagulation (RFTC), which has been shown to be quite effective in reducing neck, back, leg and arm pain, is worth exploring if not already offered by your pain management center.” RFTC is one of the few pain procedures which actually received a payment increase from Medicare in 2008-2009.
2. Expand your offerings beyond pain management.
Pain management ASCs should consider expanding their center’s offerings to include neurology and orthopedics, both of which are closely related to pain management and can lead to increased referrals, says Jared Leger, RN, CASC, managing partner of Arise Healthcare and executive director of Stonegate Surgery Center in Austin, Texas.
“The synergy that is generated between the cross-referral of pain management and neuro/ ortho/spine has huge growth potential,” says Dr. Leger.
3. Aggressively market your services. Administrators and owners of pain management practices say that marketing is crucial to growing patient volume.
“Pain management centers need to aggressively market to primary care physicians,” says J. Lowell Haro, MD, owner of Pain Management Consultants in Austin, Texas. “Pain practices need to market their services in order to ensure that primary care physicians are aware of pain management options.”
Joel Haro, administrator of Pain Management Consultants, agrees. “Having a marketing department that actively targets referring physicians is crucial for growth,” he says. “A marketing person is a ‘must have’ in every pain practice.”
Other pain management physicians choose to market directly to patients. Dr. Wills’ private practice, Austin Pain Associates, advertises directly to potential patients in an attempt to make them aware of pain management services. Mr. Leger says, “Dr Wills’ practice has developed a direct marketing program to patients, via high-end local and regional magazines, in an effort to inform their patients about their choice to come to see a pain management doctor prior to considering surgery, and it appears to be working.”
Contact Lindsey Dunn at lindsey@beckersasc.com.