Becker's ASC Review

39 Thought Leadership What's worrying ASC leaders in the next six months? By Patsy Newitt A SC leaders are navigating extensive industry shis — from the recent surge in COVID-19 cases to CMS potentially removing 258 procedures from the ASC payable list. Seven leaders spoke with Becker's ASC Review on their biggest concerns for the next six months. Editor's note: ese answers were edited lightly for clarity and brevity. Question: What are you most worried about in the next six months? Wendy King, BSN, RN. Director of e Corval- lis (Ore.) Clinic Surgery Center: Healthcare is experiencing job openings without applicants or minimal applicants. is is for all positions, but most alarming is the lack of anesthesia provid- ers. Our ASC contracts with an anesthesia group that staffs the local hospital, and they have been unable to recruit for open positions — they have providers retiring or moving. ey have given their 180-day notice to the hospital and reassure us that they will continue to staff our ASC. I am sure there are a lot of reasons why there is turn- over in all positions, but it seems these reasons have been magnified with COVID-19. Helen Dickson, RN. Administrator of Pre- mier at Exton (Pa.) Surgery Center: My big- gest concern for the next six months is staying open if there is another COVID-19 surge. Bonnie Lavoie, RN, CASC. Vice president of operations for the West Morris Surgery Center (Succasunna, N.J.): I am concerned about three items. First, CMS' proposal to remove many codes from the ASC-payable list, which would limit many centers from adding specialties such as vas- cular or cardiac. I'm sure there will be comments and pushback from these specialties, however. Finally, ASCs will lose their autonomy as they are "gobbled up" by hospitals and big healthcare systems. Jennifer Myers, MBA, CASC. Business office manager at Pacific Surgical Cen- ter (Longview, Wash.): I think the biggest concern we have is the changing landscape we face dealing with COVID-19. is includes everything from changing restrictions and guidelines to whether we will have to limit the number of outpatient surgeries we will be allowed to do if we have another COVID-19 surge this coming winter. Linda Deeming. Center director of Salud Fam- ily Health Centers (Fort Lupton, Colo.): In the next six months, staff retention is at the top of our list. ose who were not furloughed during COVID-19 are feeling "exhausted" from doing duties other than their "regular assigned" posi- tions. ose who were furloughed or laid off are not "ready" to come back to work for a variety of reasons. As we have started operations towards a more-normal mode, we are certainly struggling with getting up to normal staffing and keeping the trained staff we currently have. e budget is also a concern; it's certainly a balancing act that is not easy at this point. Ashley Fernandez. Administrator of Arrow- head Endoscopy & Pain Management Center (Glendale, Ariz.): With the COVID-19 case rates rising across the country, I feel we are in a better position compared to last year. We were forced to shut down last year in order to preserve hospital bed capacity and personal protective equipment supply. e hospital sys- tems have more systems in place compared to last year to handle surges and supply chain is- sues. With that said, I would be lying if I were not concerned about what the next six months will look like. Our main focus is to secure PPE supply and to continue the necessary mitiga- tion efforts to prevent an exposure at our ASC, as well as continuing to make adjustments whenever changes come down the pipeline during the pandemic. David Pandit. Administrative director of ancillary services for Texas Health Huguley Hospital (Fort Worth): e main concern I have dealing in operations and the clinical hospital arena is the COVID-19 delta variant that could impact the outpatient business and reflect on the hospital (earnings before inter- est, taxes, depreciation and amortization) at the end of the year. n Direct contracting with ASCs can benefit employers: Here's how By Patsy Newitt ASCs can often offer higher-quality care at lower rates, making it a prime loca- tion for direct contracting. Celia Smith, the administrator of Houston Premier Surgery Center in The Villag- es, spoke to Becker's ASC Review about the top trends she sees in the industry. Question: What are the top three trends in healthcare that you're following today? Celia Smith: One of the first things that I'm really focused on is the employer contracting with surgery centers. It's obvious that employers are recogniz- ing that partnerships with surgery centers can offer a higher quality of care at reduced rates. What I'm really eyeing is the benefit that these contracts with em- ployers have toward surgery centers, such as ourselves, because being aligned with them will help us avoid dealing with any out-of-network status — you get an increase in patient referrals and avoid authorizations. In the end, these contracts will allow for quicker reimbursement. Another thing that I'm looking at is the shift of hospital outpatient cases to surgery centers. Medicare and commercial payers are both approving higher- acuity procedures to be done at centers such as ours. In doing so, hopefully we can find ways to reel in physicians that may not be comfortable in outpatient surgery centers, bringing their outpatient cases. The third thing that I'm really looking at is reimbursement trends, bundled payments and value-based care. Value-based care centers around patient outcomes and quality of care while lowering costs, which is the aim of every surgery center. So with bundled payments, maybe we could get paid faster and avoid the correspondent hassles with payers. n

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