Undeniably, the pandemic is ASCs' top priority right now. But that doesn't mean other challenges ASCs face — like physician recruitment, bundled payments and private equity deals — have diminished.
ASC executives and surgeons discussed what the future holds and more during a session titled, "What ASCs need to survive and thrive in the 2020s: Physician recruitment strategies, bundled payments, private equity and more." The session was part of Becker's ASC Virtual Event on Oct. 1. The panel included:
- Raghu Reddy, executive administrator of SurgCenter of Western Maryland
- Amber Wright, administrator, at Cottonwood Surgery Center
- Wael Barsoum, MD, orthopedic surgeon at Cleveland Clinic Florida, and president and chief transformation officer of Healthcare Outcomes Performance Co.
- Scott Leggett, co-founder and principal of G1, and founder and CEO of Surgery One, ASC Development and Management
Here is an excerpt from the conversation, lightly edited for clarity. To view the full session on demand, click here.
Question: What's at the top of your center's to-do list in the 2020s?
Raghu Reddy: The top to-do list item for 2020 is to get back to a normal rhythm of things and at least be close to 90 percent of our operations. Some of the other to-do things obviously in 2020 would be to continue to work on the emergent [COVID-19] guidelines, keeping our staff and patients safe, engaging the patients and showing them that ASCs are a safe place for them to come for their elective procedures. We're also gearing up to apply for our total joint certification.
Dr. Wael Barsoum: The No. 1 focus is ensuring we have safe mechanisms to get patients in the ASC setting. The other thing is preparing for what we're all expecting to be more of a shift around total joint replacements to be in the outpatient setting. So, being sure that we're prepared for that and making sure we have all of our quality indicators that we're going to utilize, and making sure we have appropriate transfer agreements for a patient that may have a complication or have a challenge afterward.
Amber Wright: Our biggest thing is total joint replacements as well. Due to the pandemic, people feel safer in an ASC. That's driving the patient's choice to come to an ASC. And you know, insurance companies are pushing our patients to ASCs because it is beneficial for the patient but also payers. The payers pay less and the patients get better quality of care.
Scott Leggett: The next big step as everybody's talking about is being able to do total joints to scale. So you're not doing three or four total joints a month, you're doing more like 25 or 30. And then to reinforce what's been said, COVID-19 hasn't really created any new trends. Rather, it's supercharging existing trends. We all know the movement to ASCs has been there for a while. I see this continued movement as a tremendous opportunity for the ASC industry.