Becker's ASC Review

21 Thought Leadership ASCs working with hospitals: How one admin maintains strong ties By Marcus Robertson H ospitals and ASCs can butt heads at times over competition for top nurses, physicians and other staff; differences in reim- bursements; and advocating for approved outpatient proce- dures. Jeffra Kinniard, RN, director of operations at Parkview SurgeryOne in Fort Wayne, Ind., told "Becker's ASC Review Podcast" how her ASC has managed to keep a collaborative dynamic with hospitals. Question: What do you do to maintain a good relationship with the hospitals in your area? Jeffra Kinniard: As we have new surgeons come on, I always recom- mend that they do their initial total joints at the hospital and get used to everything and work out their bugs so they can feel comfortable then moving into the outpatient. Once they're comfortable with outpatient in the hospital setting, then they come here to the surgery center to do their cases. I think the culture of surgery centers is very much [collaborative], and we saw that during the pandemic, when my center was closed for about 10 weeks here in Indiana due the governor's edict. So we rede- ployed our coworkers into hospital settings, where they were really quite successful. And because they're used to being team players, they know how to ask the right questions. We saw their resiliency. So we were very, very proud of them and they made a really good impression at the hospital. I think it also made them appreciate where they came from and what they have. You know, sometimes we're just so busy working, we kind of forget what a great setting this is, what a great lifestyle it is and how rewarding it can be until you remember how the other half lives. It was one of the silver linings that came out of the pandemic for us. n These specialties show the most promise for growth, says SCA president By Marcus Robertson M edical advancements are allowing more proce- dures to move to the outpatient setting, which creates growth opportunities in the ASC indus- try. Jason Strauss, president of Deerfield, Ill.-based Surgi- cal Care Affiliates, told "Becker's ASC Review Podcast" that he sees a particularly favorable growth environment in a handful of specialties. Question: What specialties provide the greatest future opportunity in ASCs? Jason Strauss: One of the areas that we're focused on is cardiology and vascular procedures. We've got several partnerships today, both on the ASC and the [office- based lab] side. And the reality is if you look at claims data from the various Medicare and commercial plans, roughly 98 to 99 percent of that spending is occurring in a hospital-based location. The next that has been continuing to build and grow is total joints and spine procedures. Technology continues to evolve from a pain standpoint to make more and more patients clinically eligible to have those procedures done [in an ASC]. And the reality is there's still a tremendous amount of what I think the ASC industry would consider bread and butter procedures that are still occurring in hospital loca- tions. [There] still is a tremendous opportunity in gastro- enterology, neurology and ophthalmology. n Healthcare delivery challenged by feds as 'never before,' veteran ASC administrator says By Patsy Newitt F rom CMS restoring the inpatient-only list to unaddressed supply chain issues, obstacles facing ASCs at the federal level were discussed with Joe Peluso, administrator of Aestique Surgery Center in Greensburg, Pa. Editor's note: This interview was lightly edited for clarity and brevity. Joe Peluso: I have had the privilege of serving as a chief execu- tive in healthcare organizations for over 30 years, through con- sequential events such as budget crises, mergers, acquisitions, staffing and recruitment issues, financial and operational turn- arounds, and yes, even a pandemic. But never before have I had a more serious question about the capability of our healthcare delivery systems to meet the challenges and needs of our com- munities as I do now in my capacity as administrator of an ASC. Unlike past crises, this one restores the Medicare inpatient-only list while ignoring site-neutral payments between ASCs and hospital outpatient departments, does not address supply chain issues that drive up the cost of supplies and attempts to utilize federal emergency authority to require mandates for healthcare and business workforces — without providing a comment period on the regulations, giving short time frame to implement, no clear guidelines and imposing loss of Medicare/Medicaid fund- ing as conditions of participation for healthcare facilities. This situation requires our immediate attention to mitigate the impact of what has created a crisis in healthcare manpower, pa- tient access, financial stability, increased patients' out-of- pocket costs and sustainability of healthcare organizations to serve community needs. n

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