Becker's ASC Review

8 ASC MANAGEMENT Crozer Health nixes ASC plans By Claire Wallace S pringfield Township, Pa.-based Crozer Health has nixed plans to reopen its shuttered Springfield campus's emergency department and medical center as an orthopedic ASC, according to a March 5 report from the Philadelphia Business Journal. Crozer initially announced plans for the ASC partnership in July following an $87.2 million loss in 2022. e system was in talks to finalize a joint venture deal with Newtown Square, Pa.-based Premier Orthopedics, an operator of three dozen practices in the region, to establish an ASC by converting former hospital rooms for outpatient procedures. e emergency department originally closed its doors in January 2022 amid staffing shortages. For the past two years, the facility has been operating as an outpatient care center. Now, the facility is expected to reopen as a micro-hospital with an emergency department as part of its ongoing fiscal turnaround efforts. Ongoing ASC conversations happened for a year before the health system changed plans, according to the report. "We had to pivot on that," Anthony Esposito, CEO of Crozer, told the Journal. "We had the engineers and architects look at [converting hospital space] for a surgery center and when all the costs came back, it was really cost prohibitive to shoehorn it into the hospital." Crozer is still looking at the option of opening an ASC on the third floor of a vacant medical office building next door to the Springfield campus that was previously occupied by the health system's executive offices. n ASCs offer anesthesiologists stipends as competition heats up By Laura Dyrda Some ASCs have had their patient volumes and bottom lines affected by the inability to access anesthesia providers. "e continued shortage of anesthesiologists has led to many surgery procedures having to be canceled and/or postponed both in the hospital as well as the ASC setting," Bruce Feldman, administrator of Bronx (N.Y.) Ambulatory Surgery Center, told Becker's. Surgery centers are rethinking their anesthesia models as the landscape becomes more competitive, which is a daunting prospect. ere are clear regulatory hurdles to meet, and securing anesthesiologists may require additional compensation. "We are seeing more and more ASCs needing to offer stipends while still needing to maintain a healthy bottom line," said Ashley Hilliard, MSN, RN, administrator of Deerpath Ambulatory Surgery Center. "e shortage of anesthesia providers coupled with the demand for higher wages is something to keep an eye on, especially in the smaller ASCs." Andrew Lovewell, CEO of Columbia (Mo.) Orthopedic Group, is also concerned about the anesthesia provider shortage. His practice now employs the anesthesiologists who provide services at COG's ASC, providing higher salaries and better benefits than the group had when it was independent. But employing anesthesiologists has its own set of challenges, and his group is still looking to hire more providers. "We are short in anesthesia personnel, key business office functions and surgical technicians. Our shortages compound as payers make the process significantly more complicated to get paid for services," he said. "Finding qualified anesthesia personnel that embrace the high volume orthopedic ASC is a challenge as well." n Justice Department recovers $1.8B from healthcare fraud in 2023 By Claire Wallace T he U.S. Justice Department recovered approximately $2.69 billion in False Claims Act cases in 2023, the majority of which were related to healthcare fraud, according to a new report from law firm Bass, Berry and Sims. That is up from $2.24 billion in recoveries in 2022 but down from $5.71 billion in 2021. 2019 and 2020 saw $3.07 billion and $2.26 billion in recoveries, respectively. Healthcare fraud recoveries were the largest proportion of False Claims Act recoveries in 2023 at $1.82 billion, with all other recoveries totaling just $870 million. n

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