Becker's ASC Review

21 ASC MANAGEMENT ASC employee compensation packages are changing: 7 insights By Alan Condon N urses and medical assistants are among the most difficult positions to recruit in today's challenging healthcare labor market, which has pushed many ASCs and medical practices to increase wages and strengthen compensation packages and benefits to address staff shortages. Here are seven ways medical practices are attracting staff, according to the June MGMA Management and Staff Compensation report: 1. Improved employee engagement efforts 2. Increasing paid time off or reducing schedules 3. Outsourcing for scribe work and medical coding 4. Providing salary increases ahead of schedule 5. More opportunities for remote work 6. Employing entry-level college students from local schools to build talent pipelines and developing those workers 7. Offering referral bonuses for staff members who help bring in new hires n 'Our business model would implode': Why a physician group exited a payer's network By Laura Dyrda D avid Kowalski, MD, a physician with Springfield (Ill.) Clinic, a physician group with ASCs that dropped out of network with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois last year aer a pay dispute, shed light on the details of the dispute and what lies ahead during a presentation at the Effingham (Ill.) County Chamber of Commerce last week. e Effingham Daily News reported Dr. Kowalski addressed the chamber during a June 3 luncheon. He said Springfield Clinic refused Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois' contracted rates because it would have made it more difficult for the group to recruit and retain physicians. He said it would have been "fiscally irresponsible" for the group to accept the terms of the new contract. "We feel that if we cannot retain or recruit providers that our business model would implode, not unlike our local hardware store," he said. "We feel we owe our patients more — a future that is stable and they continue to receive great care for many generations to come." Dr. Kowalski said Springfield Clinic has been seeing Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois patients out of network. Labs and X-rays for those patients are performed at HSHS St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital in Effingham until the two sides can agree on a new in-network contract. Springfield Clinic and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois are still in talks to renegotiate their contract, and in the meantime the clinic has a process to mitigate the financial impact to out-of-network patients. n Rural hospital ASC project gets $1M in state funds By Alan Condon M issouri Gov. Mike Parson has signed legislation that provides $1 million in capital funding for the development of Texas County Memorial Hospital's ASC, the Houston Herald reported July 4. The ASC will be composed of two operating rooms, an endoscopy suite and space for presurgical prep and post-surgery recovery. The Houston, Mo.-based hospital has 26 physicians across various specialties, including cardiology, general surgery, emergency medicine and gastroenterology, according to its website. The funding is in addition to the $1 million Texas County Memorial Hospital recently received from a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development grant, according to the report. n Infusion therapy ASC chain gets capital investment to spur growth By Claire Wallace S cottsdale, Ariz.-based LivWell Infusions, a chain of infusion and injection therapy ASCs, has received an investment from Frontline Healthcare Partners to expand across the Southwest and nationally, according to an Aug. 21 report from venture capital news blog FinSMEs. LivWell, founded in 2020, specializes in treating patients with chronic conditions, providing services for those with gastroenterology, ophthalmology, oncology, cardiology, immunology, neurology and rheumatology problems. The investment amount was undisclosed, but LivWell said it plans to use the funds to accelerate national growth. LivWell operates ambulatory infusion centers in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Indiana and Pennsylvania. n

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