Becker's ASC Review

18 Thought Leadership KKR secured $60M+ in federal emergency funding By Eric Oliver C ompanies owned by Nashville, Tenn.- based Envision Healthcare's parent company, KKR, secured more than $60 million in federal funding through HHS, Bloomberg reported. What you should know: 1. Subsidiaries of companies owned by private equity firm KKR had almost 300 applica- tions approved for more than $60 million in funding through HHS' Advance Payments Program and the Accelerated Payments Program, which were both expanded through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. 2. e expansion was designed to help health- care practices cope with the pandemic. e funding was awarded to providers who were in danger of losing their business because of elective surgery bans and to assist facilities treating COVID-19 patients. 3. e funding was awarded as a 0 percent interest loan for seven months to a year, which will jump to a 10.25 percent interest rate if not repaid during that time. 4. CMS Administrator Seema Verma said the agency didn't ask applicants about their own- ership structure. Ms. Verma said to Bloomberg: "We didn't look into ownership, what we look into is are they Medicare-enrolled providers. at is not information that the agency has historically looked into in a situation where there is a disaster or an emergency." 5. e expanded law had no restrictions on private equity companies seeking money from HHS, but businesses with more than 500 employees were excluded from the similar Paycheck Protection Program. 6. HHS awarded the funds to KKR-affiliated entities like River Drive Surgery Center in El- mwood Park, N.J., Bend (Ore.) Surgery Center and Surgery Center of Allentown (Pa.) 7. KKR spokesperson Kristi Huller told Bloomberg the loans were used for "front-line providers, including Envision." She said the company planned to pay back the money within 120 days of issuance. 8. KKR has more than $58 billion in investable capital to date. n Surgical Care Affiliates' 8 strategies to boost ASC volumes after shutdown By Angie Stewart W ith 230 ASCs in 35 states, Deerfield, Ill.-based Surgical Care Affiliates has reached about 90 percent of pre-COV- ID-19 volumes, Chief Medical Officer Dan Murrey, MD, said in an Accreditation Insider article published in June. Eight strategies SCA has deployed to make it happen: 1. Restricting visitors, maintaining social distancing, requiring masks and adopting screening and testing protocols 2. Drawing on financial reserves to keep surgical teams on payroll and to preserve surgical consistency 3. Securing sufficient personal protective equipment for staff 4. Assembling a medical executive board to provide nationwide guidance on appropriate clinical standards 5. Changing workflow management policies to efficiently work through backlogs 6. Prioritizing cases that don't require intubation or airway manipula- tion 7. Training physician partners to adopt and manage telemedicine technology 8. Educating patients on how to access telemedicine n AAAHC releases new standards By Eric Oliver T he Accreditation Association for Ambula- tory Health Care has released the 41st version of its standards in the Accredita- tion Handbook for Ambulatory Health Care. What you should know: 1. The new handbook includes new or revised standards and applies to all organizations applying for non-Medicare Deemed Status ac- creditation. 2. AAAHC revises its standards annually based on feedback from stakeholders, client organiza- tions, surveyors, partners and staff. 3. AAAHC moderately realigned standards for chapter applicability and cohesion, and capped the number of elements of compliance at seven within each standard. 4. The handbook also contains a summary of the changes from previous versions. 5. The new handbook launched at the ASCA 2020 Virtual Conference & Expo, July 9-10. n

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