Becker's ASC Review

12 SELL YOUR ASC TO A STRATEGIC PARTNER ASCs Inc. helps you FIND The besT sTRATeGIC PARTNeR & MAXIMIZe The VALUe OF YOUR AsC "The industry leader in AsC sales." "ASCs Inc. helps physician-owners of ASCs and endoscopy centers find the right strategic partner (ASC management company and/ or hospital) that will increase revenues, profits and distributions for the center, and provide an exit strategy for the owners. For each client we identify several companies that would be a good partner and procure competitive partnership proposals, then work with the selected company to maximize the value of their offer." — Jon Vick, President • Over 20 national buyers • Competitive bids from buyers • Sell minority or majority interest • High valuations • Provide an Exit Strategy Call today to find out how a strategic partner can benefit your ASC Contact Jon Vick at JonVick@ASCs-Inc.com 760-751-0250 or visit us online at www.ASCs-Inc.com • Increase distributions • 3-way deals • Increase revenues & profits • Sell to ASC management company and/or hospital • 58573 for "laparoscopy, surgical, with total hysterectomy for uterus greater than 250 g; with removal of tube(s) and/or ovary(s). 3. Key legislation. In June, the U.S. House of Representative passed the Electronic Health Fair- ness Act as part of broader legislation, HR 2570. e Electronic Health Fairness Act exempts sur- gery center procedures from counting toward meaningful use requirements until a certified EHR for ASCs is available. e legislation autho- rizes the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to certify an EHR system for ASCs. In August, the Senate passed the legislation. Sena- tors Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) introduced the bill. e Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality and Ac- cess Act of 2015 was also introduced in the Sen- ate. e bill now has 43 cosponsors. e legislation fixes flaws in the current law allowing CMS to use different measures of inflation for ASCs and hos- pital outpatient departments when setting rates. e current measures penalize ASCs. e bill is designed to help prevent ASC procedures from migrating to the HOPD setting. e bill could also require CMS to add an ASC representative to its Advisory Panel on Hospital Outpatient Payment. 4. UnitedHealthcare service guidelines update. Some of the biggest payer news comes from CMS, but commercial payer UnitedHealth- care made a significant change to its site of service guidelines. e payer announced eight different outpatient procedures and service groups will require preauthorization in an outpatient hos- pital setting, but no prior authorization will be required if performed in an ASC. e new guide- lines went into effect Oct. 1 for most states. e effective date is Nov. 1 for Colorado, and Dec. 1 for Illinois and Iowa. e guidelines apply to the following: • Abdominal paracentesis (Code 49083) • Carpal tunnel surgery (Code 64721) • Cataract surgery (Codes 66821, 66982 and 66984) • Hernia repair (Codes 49585, 49587, 49650, 49651, 49652, 49653, 49654 and 49655) • Liver biopsy (Code 47000) • Tonsillectomy and adenectomy (Codes 42821 and 42826) • Upper and lower GI endoscopy: (Codes 43235, 43239, 43249, 45380, 45384, 45385 and 45378) • Urologic procedures (Codes 50590, 52224, 52281, 52352, 52000, 52234, 52310, 52353, 52005, 52235, 52332, 52356, 52204, 52260, 52351 and 57288) 5. Tenet's acquisition of USPI. In May, Tenet Healthcare signed an agreement with Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe to form a joint venture with Unit- ed Surgical Partners International. e joint venture combines the company's surgery center and imaging center businesses. Tenet now owns 50.1 percent of USPI, but is on the path to full ownership over the next five years through a put/call structure. Together, the companies own 244 ASCs, 20 imaging centers and 16 surgical hospitals in 29 states. e joint ven- ture created the largest ASC company in the industry. Bill Wilcox and Brett Brodnax remain at the helm of USPI as CEO and CDO, respectively. Kyle Burnett, Tenet's senior vice president of outpatient services, joined the USPI leadership team as president of am- bulatory services and chief integration officer. 6. Surgery Partners IPO. Surgery Part- ners filed its initial public offering in 2013. is year, Surgery Partners filed its IPO, just a year aer its acquisition of Symbion. e company intends to list its common stock on the Nasdaq under the sym- bol "SGRY." Surgery Partners shares were priced at $23 to $26 per share, putting the company's value at approximately $1.25 billion. e company is selling 14.3 million common shares for its IPO. 7. Out-of-network lawsuits. e OON strat- egy is a source of contention in the ASC industry; some believe OON reimbursement is dead, while others believe it is alive and well. Regardless of the OON model's fate, this year there were a number of

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