Becker's ASC Review

May/June 2022 Issue of Becker's ASC Review

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18 ASC MANAGEMENT Meet 10 ASC execs shaping the industry By Patsy Newitt Here are 10 ASC power players to know, listed in alphabetical order: 1. Bill Prentice is the CEO of the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association. e association advocates on behalf of ASC owners and oper- ators on the federal level and has successfully influenced policy in favor of ASCs. Mr. Pren- tice has been CEO of the ASCA since 2010. 2. Brett Brodnax is the president and CEO of Dallas-based United Surgical Partners Inter- national, Tenet Healthcare's ASC chain. Mr. Brodnax joined USPI in 1999 and served as senior vice president, executive vice presi- dent, chief development officer and presi- dent before becoming CEO in 2018. 3. Caitlin Zulla is the CEO of Surgical Care Affiliates. She joined the Deerfield, Ill.-based ASC chain in 2015 and served as chief ad- ministrative officer and CFO before becom- ing CEO in December 2019. 4. Dallas Freyer, RN, is the president of the Texas Ambulatory Surgery Center Society's board of directors. She also is the admin- istrator of both Corpus Christi Outpatient Surgery and Surgicare of Corpus Christi. Founded in 2003, the society serves as a pub- lic policy advocate for the ASC industry. 5. Eric Evans is the CEO and director of Sur- gery Partners, where he has served since Jan- uary 2020. He formerly served as the Brent- wood, Tenn.-based ASC chain's executive vice president and chief operating officer. He also used to serve as the president of hospital operations for Tenet Healthcare and CEO of Tenet's Texas region. 6. Janie Kinsey, RN, is the vice president of ASCA's board of directors and the director of operations for Surgical Care Affiliates. She formerly served as the administrator and CEO of HCA Healthcare's MidAmerica di- vision and CEO of Saint Luke's Surgicenter- Lee's Summit (Mo.). 7. Jeff Snodgrass is the president of ASC management company AmSurg, where he has served since 2020. He formerly served as president and CEO of Azura Vascular Care and National Cardiology Partners. 8. Michael Patterson is the president of ASCA's board of directors and the CEO of Davenport, Iowa-based Mississippi Valley Health, which includes Mississippi Valley Surgery Center and Mississippi Valley En- doscopy Center. 9. Ronald Rittenmeyer is the executive chair- man of Tenet Healthcare, the parent com- pany of USPI. He was Tenet's CEO for four years and led the company through an era of growth and transformation. 10. Samuel Hazen is the CEO of HCA Healthcare. Mr. Hazen has worked with HCA for more than 37 years, including serv- ing as president and COO. e Nashville, Tenn.-based organization is one of the coun- try's largest surgery center operators with 125 ASCs. n Fee for service becoming a 'steady march to the bottom'; What's next for ASCs? By Laura Dyrda Physicians are clinging to fee-for-service payment to avoid the proverbial "race to the bottom" of bundled payments, which often cut pay rates. But fee-for-service contract rates haven't been much better. "A careful review of reimbursement shows that fee for service is a steady march to the bottom without a foreseeable end," said Adam Bruggeman, MD. "We are working hard to be at the forefront of musculoskeletal care by participating in pro- vider-friendly bundles with an ultimate goal of managing population health from nonoperative care through any surgical interventions and postoperative care." ASC administrators are seeing CMS and commercial insurers offer slight increases on fee-for-service contracts that aren't keeping up with the cost of providing care. Rising supply and staffing costs are squeezing ASCs, which typically operate on a tight margin. Insurers do want ASCs to continue operations as a high quality and lower cost setting than the hospitals, but continue to narrow pay policies and ratchet down rates on procedures they do pay for. "I see payers as opportunistic," said Joe O'Brien, MD, a spine surgeon with OrthoBethesda in Maryland, and medical direc- tor of minimally invasive orthopedic spine surgery at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va. "They will deny care when they can, they will deny payment when they can, and they will provide poor contracts when they can. I'd love to see a future model where the payers were true partners with the patients and doctors." What will the next iteration of pay models hold? While there isn't a clear answer, Dr. Bruggeman said he thinks the surgeon should be front-and-center for care coordination for a healthcare system that incentivizes keeping patients healthy and cared for in the most appropriate setting. "Future payment models will continue to recognize the importance of the physician in making [site of care] decisions and reward physicians for selecting the best clinical and economic pathway for patients," he said. "All of this requires significant understanding of data, analytics and metrics, which we are aggressively pursuing." n

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