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Ophthalmology Roundtable: Eye Surgery Centers: Opportunities, Challenges and Value-Added Services

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Retina, Conyers: Retina pro- cedures are typically much more tedious and time-con- suming that the general ophthalmology cases. So, operating room time will be consumed by far fewer cases, which will reduce facility fees. ey also require additional equipment such as a vit- recto- my machine. ey can also re- quire expensive supplies such as oil. Keep- ing room turn- over efficient and managing inventory with minimal quan- tities are the primary offsets to these dilemmas. Q: Do you think more ASCs will begin performing retina proce- dures in the future? Ms. Phillips: I think that ASCs are not seeing high reimburse- ment, so it will be a challenge for ASCs to bring these proce- dures in. Unless they can find retina surgeons who can bring in high volumes of patients, I don't think you will see an increase in retina surgeries in ASCs. Having said that however, we feel that adding retina was a positive for our center. It was a nice addition to providing ophthalmic care, and it's also been a positive for our patients because nobody was doing retina in our area so patients had to travel for over an hour for those procedures. Mr. Lucas: ASCs committed to ophthalmology will no doubt consider retina. Growing volumes, maintaining strong ties to groups that offer retina and maintaining a common surgical venue for patients within the provider group will be motivators. Q: Will 2014 be a transformative year for eye centers? if so, how? Dr. Gonzalez: is is very difficult to predict with in- creased governmental control of healthcare. e eye centers that are able to successfully add some of the value-added services will do well while oth- ers may struggle to meet the profit margins they had expe- rienced in the past. n Eye Surgery Centers 5 "The eye centers that are able to suc- cessfully add some of the value-added services will do well while others may struggle to meet the profit margins they had experienced in the past." — Dr. Mark Gonzalez, The Eye Center 57 retina surgeons, for which they will have to learn a new skill set. We bought new equipment for retina procedures, and we had the representatives here to train the staff. We also visited other retina surgeons to observe. Steven Klein, CEO, Sheepshead Bay Surgery Center, New York: [Some chal- lenges are] availability of operating room time as well as upfront acquisition cost of equipment, instruments and supplies and reimbursement rates. Oth- er challenges are the need for retinal surgeons with volume and identifying types of retinal cases that can be performed in the ASC. [However], payers will force it to happen because it's less expensive in the ASC. Also, with smaller gauge instruments, cases will be performed faster. Paul Lucas, CEO, Georgia Retina, Conyers: Retina procedures are typically much more tedious and time-consuming that the general ophthalmology cases. So, operating room time will be consumed by far fewer cases, which will reduce facility fees. They also require additional equipment such as a vit- rectomy machine. They can also require expensive supplies such as oil. Keep- ing room turnover efficient and managing inventory with minimal quantities are the primary offsets to these dilemmas. Q: Do you think more ASCs will begin performing retina proce- dures in the future? Ms. Phillips: I think that ASCs are not seeing high reimbursement, so it will be a challenge for ASCs to bring these procedures in. Unless they can find retina surgeons who can bring in high volumes of patients, I don't think you will see an increase in retina surgeries in ASCs. Having said that however, we feel that adding retina was a positive for our center. It was a nice addition to providing ophthalmic care, and it's also been a positive for our patients because nobody was doing retina in our area so patients had to travel for over an hour for those procedures. Mr. Lucas: ASCs committed to ophthalmology will no doubt consider retina. Growing volumes, maintaining strong ties to groups that offer retina and maintaining a common surgical venue for patients within the provider group will be motivators. Q: Will 2014 be a transformative year for eye centers? if so, how? Dr. Gonzalez: This is very difficult to predict with increased governmental control of healthcare. The eye centers that are able to successfully add some of the value-added services will do well while others may struggle to meet the profit margins they had experienced in the past. n "The eye centers that are able to suc- cessfully add some of the value-added services will do well while others may struggle to meet the profit margins they had experienced in the past." — Dr. Mark Gonzalez, The Eye Center at Medstar 10 Statistics on Ophthalmology- Driven ASCs By Laura Miller H ere are 10 statistics about ophthalmology-driven ambula- tory surgery centers from the VMG Health Multi-Special- ty ASC Intellimarker 2011. Gross charges per case in the West: $6,063 Net revenue per case in the West: $1,302 Gross charges per case in the Southwest: $6,442 Net revenue per case in the Southwest: $1,312 Gross charges per case in the Midwest: $5,861 Net revenue per case in the Midwest: $1,297 Gross charges per case in the Southeast: $5,360 Net revenue per case in the Southeast: $1,198 Gross charges per case in the Northeast: $4,116 Net revenue per case in the Northeast: $1,193 n A recent article from Becker's ASC Review highlighted the challenges that ophthalmology centers face in 2014— particularly decreased reimbursements. Lumenis would like to help you find creative ways to both increase revenue and improve patient care. Minor laser procedures, such as minimally invasive SLT for glaucoma, YAG capsulotomies and iridotomies, can provide a source of revenue between cataract surgeries. Lumenis SLT works 24 hours a day to help control IOP in open angle glaucoma patients. To learn more about how Lumenis SLT can help your center prosper in the current healthcare climate, visit ophthalmic.lumenis.com.

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