9
ASC
MANAGEMENT
Florida ASC
gives 30 patients
free Lasik surgery
By Patsy Newitt
S
outhpoint Surgery Center in Jacksonville, Fla.,
gifted 30 patients free Lasik cataract surgery
Dec. 11, News4Jax reported.
Nine physicians volunteered to perform the
surgery, which can cost more than $5,000 out of
pocket, for the charity Florida Eye Cares, accord-
ing to the report.
Southpoint Surgery Center offers anesthesia, ocu-
loplastic surgery, ophthalmology, ENT and plastic
surgery, among other services.
"Whether it's cataract surgery, lasik surgery or
corneal transplants, all of it is aimed to getting
people seeing again and getting back to the
things they need and want to do," Akbar Hasan,
MD, told News4Jax. n
Dr. John Kitchens performs
world's 1st implant procedure
for age-related eye
disease at ASC
By Marcus Robertson
J
ohn Kitchens, MD, performed the world's first implant of a
sustained-release treatment for age-related macular degen-
eration, ABC affiliate WTVQ reported Dec. 9.
The procedure was performed Nov. 30 at the Lexington (Ky.)
Surgery Center, the report said. It is used to treat wet age-related
macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in people
over the age of 60.
The treatment, Genentech's Susvimo, was approved by the FDA
in October, the report said. It is surgically implanted in the eye via
injection and slowly releases vascular endothelial growth factor,
which combats the eye disease. Patients receive two refill injec-
tions per year, as opposed to the previously available treatment's
monthly injections of the growth factor. n
The biggest trends 3 ASC CEOs are following
By Alan Condon
R
ecruiting and retaining staff amid
a nationwide healthcare workforce
shortage and finding ways to capitalize
on the shi to outpatient are among the top
priorities for ASC administrators in 2022.
ree CEOs of surgery centers in Michigan,
Virginia and New York expand on the key
trends occurring in their markets.
Note: Responses were lightly edited for
style and clarity.
Tina Piotrowski. CEO, Copper Ridge
Surgery Center (Traverse City, Mich.): One
of the top priorities is maintaining a com-
petent, well-trained workforce in a highly
competitive market. Like many ASCs, we face
competition for staff from hospitals that offer
attractive sign-on bonuses and oen much
higher wages. Since the pandemic, we have
seen a number of our clinical staff wanting to
reduce their hours due to school and childcare
issues related to COVID. We are working hard
to offer more flexible part-time positions, but
filling the gaps is increasingly challenging.
We're starting an initiative that is going to al-
low us to collect feedback from employees at
each department as far as how to have a more
flexible work-life balance and how to meet
the needs of the center while also meeting
personal needs.
Mark Schwartz. CEO, Blue Ridge Ortho-
paedic & Spine Center (Warrenton, Va.): I'm
looking on the national level at the impact of
changes in healthcare, the increasing cost of
medical education and COVID as a catalyst for
provider retirement, and then thinking about
what that looks like for the provider shortages
and healthcare delivery. at's something we
saw prior to COVID: the forecast for shortages
of physicians. I think that has only increased or
accelerated with COVID.
I'm seeing that in Virginia, but I think it's
the whole [healthcare] delivery system if you
don't have the primary cares and the urgent
cares and enough staffing in those areas.
We're seeing shortages in critical areas on a
national level, whether it's anesthesia or other
providers that affect the ability to deliver care.
ose are the things I'm concerned about.
Also, what does it look like for people coming
into healthcare as providers? Right now, the
costs are only increasing for people going
into medical school. And [with] hospitals and
independence in terms of physicians, I think
the hospitals have been able to have a [good]
margin, and as hospital margins get challeng-
ing, they're typically taking a loss on the phy-
sician side. I'm not sure that is a sustainable
model going forward, unless there's other
changes in the pipeline in terms of physicians
coming into the field or reimbursements.
Austin Cheng. CEO, Gramercy Surgery
Center (New York City): In New York, there
have been announcements by major players
that certain procedures will not be approved
for the hospital outpatient setting and they
are going to try to push those procedures
into the freestanding ASC setting. I think
that has scared a bunch of different provid-
ers, and they are trying to figure out how to
react to this.
Surgery centers are situated well to absorb a
lot of the case volume. I don't think it's a zero-
sum game. I don't think we're pulling away
from one provider and that provider is losing.
ere's a lot of alignment that can be done; it's
just a matter of the players figuring out how
they fit into each others' roadmaps and devel-
opment maps. at's a big puzzle to solve. n
