Becker's ASC Review

20 THOUGHT LEADERSHIP 'It is a conveyor belt': 5 thoughts on the downside to physician employment By Patsy Newitt I n its 2022 "Employed Physicians Report," Medscape surveyed more than 1,350 physicians employed by healthcare organizations, hospitals, large group practices, clinics or other medical groups about their jobs. Here are five quotes from anonymous employed physicians about the downsides of their jobs: "Poor management makes dumb rules." "That we basically pay the salaries for some of the administrators who look over my shoulder is embarrassing, honestly." "I make less than private oncology attendings do. There's the risk of lower pay for not hitting [relative value unit] targets, and I get no compensation for doing other duties related to being an employed physician." "I feel like I only have control over what I do and end up doing extra work that ancillary staff doesn't do or doesn't do correctly." "It is a conveyor belt, not real medicine that is patient care-focused." n ASC leaders continue to grapple with staffing issues By Riz Hatton In today's environment, staffing challenges continue to be one of the biggest issues ASC leaders are up against. Here is what three ASC leaders had to say about the staffing crisis: Editor's note: These answers were edited lightly for clarity and brevity. Ann Cook, RN. Director of Nursing at Best Surgery and Therapies (Cincinnati): The biggest obstacle I face in my day- to-day is staffing. It is no secret that we are facing a nursing crisis, which is forecast to only get worse. It is a known fact that ASCs pay less than hospitals, the main reason being ASCs' reimbursement rates are notoriously and appallingly lower than hospital reimbursement rates. Sheila Thompson, RN. Administrator at Twin Cities Pain Clinic and Surgery Center (Edina, Minn.): The biggest issue I am spending most of my time on is staffing. We are short RNs and nursing assistants. It is extremely hard to run a busy ASC being short on nurses. Our current team works so hard, but they cannot maintain this pace over the long term. I hope this improves in the next six to 12 months. Andrew Wade. CEO at OrthoSC (Myrtle Beach, S.C.): Staffing is by far the biggest challenge that we're facing today. The inflationary market pressure on all of our collective purchasing power and the "great reshuffling" have created extreme wage competition and a hyper-competitiveness within the market. n ASC CEO's 3-part strategy to weather financial challenges By Armani Washington Michael Grant, CEO of the Surgery Center of Amarillo (Texas), joined Becker's to discuss how his ASC is tackling financial challenges. Editor's note: ese responses were edited lightly for clarity and length. Question: How is your ASC tackling financial challenges right now? Michael Grant: Definitely an interesting time for ASCs with lots of different financial challenges. We have really tried to focus on three things: 1. Increasing our revenue per procedure by performing higher- acuity procedures such as outpatient bariatric weight loss procedures; orthopedic total joint replacements and sports medicine procedures; cardiology, focusing on cardiac rhythm management; and pain management procedures. 2. Decreasing our supply costs by renegotiating vendor contracts and trying to streamline all providers to one or two vendors for each product category. By having a higher spend commitment with one or two vendors for each category, we are able to get better upfront pricing and a rebate structure in place. 3. Cross-training our registered nurses to be able to perform multiple roles throughout the facility, so if we face staffing challenges we have multiple nurses that can work in recovery, preoperative, registration and the operating room. We are able to maximize staffing each day by having the staff cross-trained in different areas of the organization. is helps lower the use of pro re nata nurses and part-time staff and reduces staffing costs overall. We use several staff change roles throughout the day to maximize efficiency. n

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