Becker's ASC Review

43 GASTROENTEROLOGY Skyline Endoscopy Center remaining open amid neighboring Banner ASC closure By Claire Wallace L oveland, Colo.-based Banner Surgery Center recently announced plans to close its doors March 31, prompting concerns from patients that the Skyline Endoscopy Center would also close, as both are located in the Skyline Medical Pavilion, according to a March 15 report from BizWest. While they are housed in the same medical pavilion, Skyline Endoscopy Center is staffed by the Centers for Gastroenterology and will remain open amid the Banner ASC closure. Banner physicians do not provide services at Skyline Endoscopy, according to the report. "Nothing has changed for Skyline Endoscopy," Michelle Schmitt, CEO of Skyline Endoscopy Center, told BizWest. "Each day since the news broke, we've received dozens of calls from patients who think we are closing. These callers ask if they need to cancel their appointment with us, and wonder where they should go and what they need to do." n The advantage of PE-backed, physician-led ASCs By Patsy Newitt D ebra Fin, administrator of Midland, Mich.-based Great Lakes Bay Surgery & Endoscopy Center, joined Becker's to discuss what will disrupt the ASC industry next. Editor's note: is response was edited lightly for brevity and clarity. Question: What will disrupt the ASC industry next? Debra Fin: e old news is still active. ASCs will continue to see clinical staff recruitment woes and rising personnel expenses — particularly operating room circulators. Without the right staff and a stable group of teammates, it challenges the culture of an ASC and takes a great deal of operational focus to orient, integrate and support the standard of excellence and patient safety that ASCs deliver. We are continually working with staff to train, orient and join together on improving our work environment to deliver the work-life balance we promote. e current item on the horizon is and continues to be the consolidation that is starting to accelerate as hospitals bring ASCs into their care delivery models and ASCs become aligned with equity partners. With approximately 74 percent of US physicians employed by hospitals or corporate entities, hospitals in many markets are using ASCs to right- size surgery delivery sites, prepare for ambulatory delivery of previous inpatient only and hospital outpatient department services and as a contracting advantage. Ambulatory ORs are now being considered a strategic resource in planning which cases will be done at what acuity level thus opening up block time at higher level of care. ASCs are even a tool to keep high volume, quick turn cases out of office-based surgeries and a resource to pick up overflow which the post-pandemic demand has prioritized for many health systems. Equity-backed independent physician-led ASCs gain a strategic partnership that brings access to capital and resources enabling expansion or even positioning them to weather competition in their market or owner retirements. Both of these business models mean more engaged physicians and this is good for the ASC and patients. n Former Vanderbilt GI director Dr. Raymond Burk dies at 80 By Claire Wallace N ashville-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center's former director of the system's division of gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition, Raymond Burk, MD, died on May 1 at the age of 80, according to a May 3 report from the VUMC Reporter. Dr. Burk joined Vanderbilt in 1987 to lead its GI division, serving in the role until 1998. He was also director of a National Institutes of Health-funded clinical nutrition research unit and was founding director of the Vanderbilt Center for Human Nutrition. He was also a renowned researcher in the field of selenium biology and pathobiology. Dr. Burk recruited master clinicians, passionate educators and investigators during his time at Vanderbilt. "He supported me whenever I needed him, and was tirelessly dedicated, generous and kind," Ray DuBois, MD, associate provost for cancer programs at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston and a mentee of Dr. Burk, told the Reporter. "Ray touched so many lives — patients, colleagues, trainees, family and friends — changing them for the better. His passing is a great loss to us all." n

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