Becker's ASC Review

19 Thought Leadership Time for ASCs to be reimbursed the same as hospitals, Prime Surgeons CEO says By Patsy Newitt G il Tepper, MD, founder and CEO of Prime Surgeons in Los Angeles, spoke with Becker's ASC Review on changes he feels CMS should implement to give hospital outpatient departments and ASCs equal footing. Question: What's one regulatory change you wish CMS would imple- ment to benefit ASCs/patient care? Gil Tepper: CMS should change the reim- bursement calculator on a basket of codes to put ASC and outpatient departments on a level playing field. ey should use a transparent, unified fee schedule which applies equally to ASC and outpatient departments. ey need to set a new reimbursement schedule that puts HOPD and private ASCs on equal footing. Surgery centers, as small businesses, are clearly beneficial to the system — the suc- cess of ambulatory surgery as a discipline is critical to the benefit of the healthcare system in offloading the hospitals for more critical care. Today, the playing field is not level with reimbursement calculations using different indices between the outpatient department and the ASC — hospitals being reimbursed higher. This is a product of unfair and uneven lobbying size — with hospitals having much more representation on the lobbying side. While putting patient safety front and center, this has the potential to create an actual incen- tive program for innovation. Surgeons who par- ticipate in ownership of ASCs will be motivated to evolve through the challenging and time- consuming investment it takes for responsible adoption of new techniques and technologies. CMS should also deliver a clear concise basket of codes for procedures that are well-estab- lished and peer-reviewed. is has a safety and systemic benefit. is will neutralize the "lobbying power" difference in play between hospitals and freestanding ASCs. is change will empower the consumer to choose based on his/her specific informa- tion, understanding and circumstance the options for where a particular procedure may be carried out with equal safety. is will also offload the hospital traffic in a responsible way to open space for pandemic-related chal- lenges that are better handled/reimbursed in hospitals. n Reward employees on the spot: ASC leaders on workplace culture By Marcus Robertson T he COVID-19 pandemic took a toll on many in the healthcare industry, with morale plummeting at times. Tiffany Jewell, BSN, RN, clinical director of Wellspring Pain Solutions and Columbus Pain Institute, both in Co- lumbus, Ind.; and Andy Ball, CEO, and Benita Tapia, RN, administrator, both at Beverly Hills (Calif.) ASC told Becker's ASC Review that they've learned some new ways to keep employees motivated. Question: How do you motivate your teams and keep them excited to have that positive culture? Tiffany Jewell: First and foremost, we worked right alongside them. I want them to hear the message that we may all feel like we're drowning, but I'm going to drown right next to you. And we're going to get through this together and we're going to come out stronger on the other end of it. We do little gifts. We actually just did an employee award benefit just a couple of weeks ago where all our locations went off site to a restaurant, had a nice dinner, played some games, got some bonuses and it was just great. Sometimes you can't always reward with cash and so little letters, little gift cards or just verbal acknowledgement — [all that] goes a long way. Andy Ball: Empowering our supervisors to reward employees in the moment — I think that that's very important. Benita Tapia: We have our goals and we have our bonuses, but Andy and I are both very big on rewarding in the moment. So, if we see an employee that goes out of their way to do something, we actually have cash that we'll give them right there. It's important that people get rewarded and that they understand that they're valued.

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