Becker's ASC Review

41 TRANSACTIONS California physician sells surgery center to management co. By Patsy Newitt T he Modesto (Calif.) Surgery Center has been sold to an ASC management company and a group of surgeons. The physician owner was seeking an exit strategy and a buyer that could provide resources to grow and recruit, according to ASCs Inc., which represented the seller. The sale was announced Feb. 15. The center is a single-specialty ASC. n Texas Health teams with 3 orthopedic private practices By Marcus Robertson T exas Health Hospital Mansfield is partnering with three ortho- pedic practices, D Magazine reported March 8. After learning that Mansfield resi- dents travel outside the community for their orthopedic care, the hospital decided to work with the practices. The hospital is partnering with Mans- field-based Water Oak Foot and An- kle Surgery, Fort Worth-based Lone Star Orthopaedic and Spine Special- ists, and Fort Worth-based Orthope- dic and Sports Medicine Institute, the report said. n $13.3M ASC real estate sold in Louisiana By Patsy Newitt A medical office building housing an ASC in Vidalia, La., was sold for $13.3 million, Capital Real Estate Group, which represented the seller, said Feb. 23. The 44,500-square-foot building is leased by the Riverpark Ambu- latory Surgery Center, Merit Imag- ing Center, an orthopedics center, ENT clinic, gastroenterology clinic and physical therapy center. The Riverpark ASC includes three operating rooms. n The investment physicians may prefer to Apple, Tesla By Patsy Newitt D espite many physicians migrating to hospital employment, investment in ASCs is still a long- term strategy for physicians to maintain financial and opera- tional stake in a surgery center. ASCs are a more personal investment op- portunity for physicians — physician inves- tors in ASCs increase revenue by sharing in the ASC facility payments, for example. "By investing in their ASC operation, physicians can capture the facility portion of the reimbursement schedule, providing additional income for the work and invest- ment they've put in," Collin Hart, CEO and managing director at ERE Healthcare Real Estate Advisors in Costa Mesa, Calif, told Becker's. "Try doing that with your Apple or Tesla stock." James Hays, MD, ophthalmologist at Woolf- son Eye Institute in Atlanta, is a 16 percent owner in the institute's ASC, and has madea return on investment each year of about 25 percent for the last 11 years, he told Becker's. "I do have some, though minimal, control over profitability in our center," he said. "Al- though my voice is fairly small, it is louder than it would be with almost any other investment." Investment in an ASC forgoes the traditional passive investment, oen allowing physi- cians to control and grow their income based on their work. ese investments are considered a long- term strategy, John Brock, director of Progressive Healthcare in Brentwood, Tenn., told Becker's. Physicians can participate in ASC financial success through utilization and governance. Additionally, independent physicians earn on average 0.8 percent more than physicians employed by hospital-owned practices. And physicians can perform more procedures in ASCs than hospital outpatient surgery centers over the same time period due to the efficiency of surgery centers, so they can earn more revenue from professional fees. "Investing in an ASC is investing in your- self," Jack Jensen, MD, a surgeon at Athletic Orthopedics & Knee Center in Houston, told Becker's. "Not only do you know more about the ASC investment than a public stock, you are an insider regarding the func- tioning of the ASC." n

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