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12 ASC MANAGEMENT 10 bankruptcies that grabbed headlines in the ASC industry over the past 2 years By Patsy Newitt T he COVID-19 pandemic has exacer- bated existing financial challenges for healthcare providers, leaving some to file for bankruptcy since the pandemic's onset. Here are 10 bankruptcies in the ASC indus- try over the past two years: 1. Boca Raton, Fla.-based Path Medical filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with $86.5 million in liabilities, South Florida Busi- ness Journal reported Sept. 2. e 24-clinic practice cited the "effects of the COVID-19 pandemic" as the reason. 2. Advanced Pain Management, a Wis- consin-based chain of pain management practices and surgery centers, shut down several locations last year. e company that provided services to Advanced Pain Man- agement filed for Chapter 128 receivership, a bankruptcy alternative, in September 2020. 3. e landlord of Northwest Regional ASC in Westminster, Colo., petitioned Sept. 30, 2020, to force the surgery center into bank- ruptcy because of "unpaid lease obligations," according to court filings. 4. San Antonio-based Babcock Surgical Center filed for voluntary Chapter 7 bank- ruptcy June 11, 2020, in the Western District of Texas. Under Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, businesses are typically liquidat- ing assets to satisfy creditor claims. 5. West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Vision Group Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year, claiming the COVID-19 pandemic worsened its financial issues. Vision Group Holdings operates the Laser Vision Institute and TLC Laser Eye Centers brands, and is backed by private equity investors. 6. Silver Spring, Md.-based American Center for Investigative Cardiology filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection April 15, 2020. According to its filing, the center had up to $17,000 in assets with up to $98,255 in debt. 7. Pinnacle Regional Hospital in Overland Park, Kan., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 2020 and then closed permanently in April 2020. e private hos- pital and its clinics focused on spinal fusions and included 100 physicians. 8. Central Palm Beach Surgery Center in West Palm Beach, Fla., filed for bankruptcy Jan. 28, 2020. e surgery center estimated assets at $7.1 million and estimated liabili- ties at $12.2 million. 9. Yakima, Wash.-based Astria Health closed Astria Regional Medical Center in Yakima as part of a bankruptcy process. Astria Health closed one of its three hospitals and migrated care responsibilities to its ambulatory care and outpatient locations in Yakima. 10. Lockport, N.Y.-based Eastern Niagara Hospital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Nov. 7, 2019, citing, among an ar- ray of expenses, debt acquired from opening a surgery center. n Shuttered U of Vermont ASC scheduled to reopen By Patsy Newitt U niversity of Vermont Medical Center is reopening a previously shuttered outpatient surgery center this fall, a year after it closed because of air circulation problems, VTDiggerr reported Oct. 11. The ASC, located on the center's Fanny Allen campus in Col- chester, conducted 30 surgeries a day before it shut down. The Burlington-based hospital plans to replace the seven-bed ASC with a larger facility in Burlington by 2024. Hospital officials said the Fanny Allen ASC is outdated and doesn't meet the needs of the area. In September, the hospital received the state's approval to plan the ASC in Burlington, despite opposition from the Vermont Federation of Nurses & Health Professionals, which represents 2,400 of the hospital's staff members. The union wrote a letter to the Green Mountain Care Board, Vermont's healthcare regulatory body, on Sept. 13 questioning the opening of a new surgical facility when the medical center is "unable and unwilling" to staff existing operations. n Spectrum Health plans $23.2M cardiovascular ASC By Patsy Newitt S pectrum Health filed a certificate of need for a $23.2 million cardiovascular ASC in Grand Rapids, Mich., MiBiz reported Oct. 11. The 37,500-square-foot Spectrum Health Cardiovascu- lar Surgery Center would offer nonemergency diag- nostic cardiac catheterization procedures and percuta- neous coronary interventions. The proposal comes after Michigan updated its regula- tions to allow elective cardiac catheterization and PCI procedures at outpatient centers earlier this year. Grand Rapids-based Spectrum Health also has plans to build a $17 million outpatient orthopedic surgery center. n