Becker's ASC Review

11 ASC MANAGEMENT and an employed model offers a guaranteed salary, but they are both subject to bureaucra- cies that can make a physician's life miserable. In private practice, you can shape your prac- tice the way you want. Krishna Mannava, MD. Vascular surgeon at Fairfield Healthcare (Lancaster, Ohio): A shi back to private practice from the recent trend of physician employment will take sev- eral things: a progressive practice model with flexible opportunities that range from employ- ment in the practice to a partnership track, op- portunities to invest in ASCs, real estate and ancillary services, company culture that is rock solid and has similar feels to some of the tech companies out there, a senior mentor who is engaged and genuinely invested in a new phy- sician's professional, personal and financial development, and a clear short-term and long- term practice vision with transparency. Rajiv Sharma. Founder of Digestive Health Associates (Terre Haute, Ind.): is is the best time in history to be self-employed and be your own CEO. CEO of your life, own your book of business and manage your time. Time is money. Technology and social hyper con- nectedness has opened avenues for doctors to promote themselves to the end-consumer of their service, that is, patients. Staying in- dependent and using technology to enhance access to you is the focus. Robert Szabo, MD. Orthopedic surgeon at UC Davis Health (Sacramento, Calif.): Pri- vate practice offers physicians more autono- my, particularly less oversight by administra- tors who are too distant from the practice of medicine to care about the physician-patient relationship. Medicine is becoming increas- ingly sensitive to value, and there is no ques- tion that when redesign of practices comes about to reduce cost, the least value-added portion of healthcare is administration. Pri- vate practice cuts out the multiple levels of administration that exist in big healthcare systems. Already residents have become unionized in these systems to protect them from administrators. Attendings are next! Steve Lucy, MD. Orthopedic surgeon at Sports Medicine & Joint Replacement (Greensboro, N.C.): e answer is indepen- dence — being able to do things the way that you want to do them with a focus on patient care. While doctors are always going to be doctors who hopefully want to take good care of patients, if it's also your business, then there's an added level of customer service. " n Exec pay exceeds $100K for half of ASCs By Laura Dyrda H alf of ASC administrators and directors earn six-figure salaries, with administrators in the South earning the most, according to OR Manager's 2021 career salary survey. The percentage of administrators making at least $100,000 dropped from 59 percent in 2020 to 51 percent last year, despite the competitive job mar- ket. ASC leaders with the administrator or director titles earn on average $100,000 to $119,999 per year while nurse managers overseeing ASC operations earn $90,000 to $99,999. At the top of the payscale, around 6 percent of administrators earn $150,000, down from 11 percent in 2020. Three percent of ASC administrators earn $200,000 or more, down from 7 percent in 2020. Administrators in the Northeast, Midwest and West earned $100,000 to $119,999, while in the South the average annual salary for administrators was $120,000 to $149,000, according to the report. At the bottom end of the pay spectrum, around 12 percent of ASC administrators reported earn- ing less than $80,000. The report also noted ASC administrators supervise an average team of 32 full-time equivalents, including 26 employees with clinical roles. A quarter of the respondents said their operating budget was above $5 million. There are more than 300 open ASC administrator jobs listed on ZipRecruit- er, with the national average salary starting at $94,759, although the salary range goes as high as $146,000, depending on location. The market is competitive for nursing talent at ASCs right now, and could become more competitive for administrators as well if more leaders decide to make moves. The Wall Street Journal reported that nationally, women who switched jobs in the last two years saw their total compensation jump 30 percent. n Insurer fined $339K after medical group, ASC contract termination By Laura Dyrda H ealth Care Service Corp., the par- ent company of BCBS of Illinois, was fined hundreds of thousands of dollars after terminating its contract with a 600-physician medical group and ASC. BCBS of Illinois terminated its contract with Springfield (Ill.) Clinic last year but failed to appropriately update network adequa- cy filings in November. The termination knocked 100,000 covered patients out of network with the practice, surgery center and endoscopy center. The state requires health plans to report material changes to approved network plans to the Illinois Department of Insur- ance within 15 days of the change, and BCBS of Illinois was 244 days late. The state assessed BCBS of Illinois a $339,000 fine. n

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