Becker's ASC Review

24 Thought Leadership ASCs in the next 5 years: 3 expert insights By Laura Dyrda H ealthcare is going through significant changes due to the pandemic, and ASCs are in a prime position to thrive. The technology is in place to ease the transition of higher acuity cases into the outpatient centers, and payers are seeing the benefits. However, there are still many chal- lenges ahead for ASCs, especially freestanding centers that wish to remain independent. During an Oct. 15 panel at the Becker's ASC Virtual Event, industry experts gathered to discuss the major trends and opportunities for ASCs today. The panel included: • Donna Cooper, COO of DuPage Medical Group in Downers Grove, Ill. • David Rothbart, MD, medical director of Spine Team Texas ASC in Southlake • Matt Searles, partner with Merritt Healthcare Note: Responses were edited for clarity and length. Question: What is your outlook for the ASC industry in the next five years? What do you think will be the same, and what will be different? Matt Searles: We certainly think that the business will thrive in the next five years, as it has thrived. It's just go- ing to be a much more difficult business to be success- ful in. It is getting increasingly harder to operate these entities. In the old days, you could get somebody who would run a one-room ASC with three or four doctors and it would do really well. It wasn't as reliant on narrow net- works, referrals or payer networks. … We have individual centers that are full of independent physicians that are losing their referral basis and don't really have a lot of leverage with payers. I think that most of them recognize that and are moving toward partnerships that allow them to mitigate those risks. Dr. David Rothbart: We have inpatient procedures that were inpatient only, particularly in arthroplasty, that are now being converted to outpatient. We have enhanced recovery protocols that have allowed procedures that were never really ever considered, such as lumbar fusions, to be done as an outpatient. We have technologies such as im- age guidance and robotics that are taking highly complex procedures, making them more amenable to the outpatient setting. There's going to be continued pressure on cost and we have an aging population. So, procedures, in general would be expected to grow, and as we get more and more of these types of procedures that can be done in cost-ef- fective settings, I think the market will only be growing from our standpoint. Donna Cooper: I have to echo what David and Matt said. The intensity and capabilities to perform more and more in our ASCs, just given the technology and changing dy- namics, will substantially increase the number and inten- sity of cases that we're able to do in the surgery center. Even in light of COVID, the patient's desire is to go to a place they can drive into, [where] people aren't necessar- ily sick, [where] they're there to receive surgery. It makes them feel much safer walking into a surgery center than going into a bigger hospital institution or organization. n This physician specialty is picking up more PE interest By Angie Stewart M arket analysts are anticipating an uptick in mergers and acquisitions in the coming years in the urology space, which is highly fragmented, according to a collection of statistics from investment bank Global Health- care Advisors. GHA Managing Director JC Lupis shared the report with Becker's ASC Review. Five things to know about consolidation in urology: 1. The five largest urology groups represent less than 4 percent of the total urology workforce, leaving significant opportunity for future consolidation. 2. There are just four private equity-backed urology plat- forms in the U.S.: United Urology Group (backed by Audax Private Equity), Urology Management Associates (Prospect Hill Growth Partners), US Urology Partners (NMS Capital) and Solaris Health (Lee Equity Partners). 3. With more than 200 providers across 87 offices and ASCs, United Urology Group is the largest network of urology affiliates. Since forming in 2016, it has announced partner- ships with eight practices. 4. Solaris Health is the newest PE-backed urology platform, established this year when Lee Equity Partners acquired and merged Integrated Medical Professionals and The Urology Group. 5. Three private equity-backed urology platform add-ons transpired in 2019. New Jersey Urology announced two, and United Urology Group announced one. n

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