Becker's ASC Review

31 JOINT VENTURES What Will Happen to Bundled Payments During Donald Trump's Presidency? By Laura Dyrda M edscape pointed out that Tom Price, MD, President-elect Donald Trump's choice to head the HHS, hasn't supported Medicare's initiatives on bundled payments in the past. However, CMS just approved four manda- tory bundled payments allowing hospitals and physicians to share in savings when they beat target prices and meet quality standards or pay-up if they go over budget. The Comprehensive Care for Joint Re- placement initiative took effect April 1, 2016, and required select hospitals to participate; it was the first model to make participation mandatory. The new bundles — for acute myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass graft surgery and cardiac rehab after heart attacks or heart surgery — are scheduled to launch on July 1, 2017, in select regions and require hospital par- ticipation. CMS' Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation heads the new bundled pay- ment models, but House Republicans have previously targeted the center for repeal, according to the report. Dr. Price, as a member of the House of Representatives, signed a letter opposing CMMI's manda- tory bundled payments in October 2016. What will happen with bundled payments? Jack Lewin, MD, president and CEO of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, told Medscape Dr. Price could preserve bun- dled payments, but make them voluntary in the future. n SCA Builds on Advocate Health Care Partnership With Midwest Center Day Surgery Partnership, Midwest Surgical Management Group Acquisition By Mary Rechtoris D eerfield, Ill.-based Surgical Care Affili- ates partnered with Downers Grove, Ill.- based Midwest Center for Day Surgery and acquired Illinois-based Midwest Surgical Manage- ment Group. Here are six things to know: 1. Midwest Center for Day Surgery is a joint venture between Advocate Health Care in Downers Grove and community physicians. 2. Midwest Surgical Management Group is also a joint venture between Advocate and community physicians. 3. Under the acquisition agreement, SCA will now manage the following surgery centers throughout the Chicagoland area: Naperville (Ill.) Surgical Cen- tre, Midwest Center for Day Surgery, Tinley Park, Ill.-based Tinley Woods Surgery Center and Palos Hills (Ill.) Surgery Center. 4. Both deals went into effect Dec. 1, 2016. 5. Early last year, SCA and Advocate entered into a joint venture to acquire and develop a surgery center network. 6. In other news, community-based ASCs in North Carolina have teamed up to form the North Carolina Ambulatory Surgical Center Association. "ese transactions accelerate goals set forth by the joint venture between Advocate and SCA to create a market leading network of high-quality, low-cost surgery centers to optimize value of emerging risk-based reimbursement models in the Chicagoland marketplace," said Bill Dreh- koff, group president at SCA and president of the Advocate-SCA JV Board. n Novant Health, Local Physicians Face Off for CON By Mary Rechtoris W inston-Salem, N.C.- based Novant Health and a group of physi- cians both filed a certificate-of- need application to add a new operating room in Leland, N.C. However, the N.C. Department of Health Service Regulation can only grant one of those entities the CON, according to stateportpilot. com. Here are five key points: 1. While the CON application is designanted for building an addi- tional operating room, both par- ties plan to develop a new surgi- cal center to house the operating room. 2. Novant Health proposed opening a new ASC by relocating one operating room from Bolivia, N.C.-based Novant Health Bruns- wick Medical Center and adding one new operating room. 3. With an estimated total cost of $14.1 million, Novant expects to complete the surgery center by January 2019. 4. The physicians plan to de- velop a new surgery center, Brunswick Surgery Center, which would house one new operating room and two procedure rooms. The physicians expect to open the $4.2 million ASC by Janu- ary 2019, as well. The physicians formed a limited liability partner- ship to file the application for Brunswick Surgery Center. 5. Southport, N.C.-based Dosher Memorial Hospital is opposing both CON applications, claim- ing unnecessary duplication of resources. The hospital also says the ASC plans would negatively affect the hospital and Brunswick County patients. n

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