Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1416329
8 ASC MANAGEMENT Outside forces: How Walmart and Amazon's healthcare moves may affect ASCs By Ariana Portalatin Walmart and Amazon have made big moves in recent years to expand their presence in the healthcare industry. Walmart opened multiple healthcare clinics in 2020, along with the addition of increased telehealth services and the launching of its own insurance agency. is year, the retail giant continued its healthcare ad- vances by filing paperwork to operate its healthcare business in 37 states. Amazon has continued to expand its presence in the healthcare industry since launching Amazon Care in 2019. Amazon has also landed multiple partnerships with healthcare companies for use of its cloud services since it launched Amazon Web Services for Health in July. Additionally, the company launched a pharmaceutical discount program for Prime members. Here are 10 recent moves by Walmart and Amazon: 1. June 7: Walmart added prescription savings benefits for mem- bers of its Walmart+ program. It also filed paperwork to expand its telehealth services in 16 states. 2. June 14: Amazon opened three health centers in Detroit for its employees through its partnership with Crossover Health. 3. June 21: Amazon Web Services launched a program to acceler- ate the growth of healthcare startups by offering resources, expertise and collaboration opportunities. 4. June 29: Walmart announced its plans to offer a private label version of analog insulin for diabetes patients. 5. July 7: Amazon Care reportedly connected with several health- care insurance companies to expand coverage of its services. 6. July 20: Walmart filed additional paperwork to expand its healthcare services in a total of 37 states. 7. Aug. 3: Walmart added pharmaceutical veteran John Wigneswaran, MD, as its chief medical officer. 8. Aug. 4: Medical products company Baxter extended its collabo- ration with Amazon Web Services to continue to use Amazon's cloud to drive digital transformations in healthcare. 9. Aug. 9: GE Healthcare moved its artificial intelligence imaging applications and secure intelligence platform to Amazon Web Services. 10. Aug. 12: Olive entered a strategic partnership with Amazon Web Services to use its cloud computing to improve the exchange of healthcare information on its platform. Walmart and Amazon's healthcare ventures can have big implica- tions for ASCs because they can affect how patients seek care. Karen Bewer, BSN, RN, administrator of Pain Physicians of Wiscon- sin's Milwaukee and Waukesha locations, said consumers may begin to inquire more about the value of care they are receiving at their healthcare setting. "Just as consumers found that their household goods could be bought at a lower price when they went to Amazon or to Walmart, I hope that savvy healthcare consumers will ask the questions and obtain the answers about the value and convenience an ambulatory surgery center will bring to them," Ms. Bewer said. "Costs less? More convenient parking? I don't have to walk by or co-mingle with so many others seeking urgent or emergency care in a hospital? Ambu- latory surgery centers will compare very favorably in these areas." Alfonso del Granado, administrator of Covenant High Plains Sur- gery Center in Lubbock, Texas, said Amazon and Walmart have the potential to create useful solutions that can benefit ASCs. "My wish would be for an independent, portable health electronic record under the patient's control, one that they can take to every point of care and require providers to document within," Mr. del Granado said. "I do not believe healthcare systems will work on this because it would be a conflict of interest to enable patients to seek care elsewhere. I also do not see the government being able to drive this initiative with the current climate of public mistrust. It would take a behemoth organization, such as Amazon or Walmart, to create a market-based solution that I, for one, would be happy to accept if it reduced errors and decreased my labor costs in obtaining a complete and thorough history." n More indirect pay arrangements scrutinized in proposed Stark update: 3 details By Laura Dyrda C MS aims to refine Stark Law regulations on indi- rect compensation arrangements for physician referrals to services performed by immediate family members. Law firm Ballard Spahr broke down CMS' proposed changes for JDSupra, a legal analysis publication: 1. In a 2022 proposed payment rule update released July 23, CMS added items to the indirect compensa- tion arrangement definition that clarify compensation units as "payment for anything other than services personally performed by the physician (or immediate family member)." 2. The proposed rule update includes payment for space, equipment and services performed by a family member, or company the family member has ownership in. 3. CMS' modification would mean more arrangements between physicians and family members would be included in the indirect compensation arrangement definition than were originally covered in the 2020 final rule. n