Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/976338
30 JOINT VENTURES HHS Secretary Alex Azar commits to support changes to physician-owned hospital ban By Laura Dyrda H HS Secretary Alex Azar testified in front of the House Ways and Means Committee about the effects of the Bipartisan Budget Act on healthcare. During the hearing, Rep. Sam Johnson, R-Texas, inquired about Mr. Azar's feel- ing on physician-owned hospitals. For the first question in the hearing, Mr. Johnson asked Mr. Azar whether he believed the ban eliminated competition, to which Mr. Azar replied, "Yes, I believe physician-owned hospitals can provide effective competition from other hospitals." Mr. Azar then went on to agree physician- owned hospitals provide high-quality care and said, "We ought to be inspiring competi- tion among hospitals." To end his line of questioning, Mr. Johnson asked Mr. Azar to commit to working with him on repealing the ban on physician- owned hospitals. Mr. Azar replied, "So I commit to working with you on any changes that we can make to ensure that we are allowing good competition and allowing physician-owned or other owned facilities to deliver the highest quality, low-cost service to our beneficiaries, so I'm very happy to work with you." Mr. Johnson's home state of Texas includes the most physician-owned hospitals in the U.S. Last May, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., introduced legislation into the Senate that would improve access to physi- cian-owned hospitals, and Mr. Johnson in- troduced similar legislation in the House. The bill would have lifted restrictions on forming and expanding physician-owned hospitals. n Regent Surgical Health, St. Francis Hospital open surgery center for complex cases — 6 highlights By Angie Stewart R oslyn, N.Y.-based St. Francis Hospital of Catholic Health Services of Long Island partnered with Westchester, Ill.-based Regent Surgical Health to open the East Hills (N.Y.) Surgery Center. Here are six things to know: 1. East Hills Surgery Center is the first ASC for St. Francis Hospital and Rockville, N.Y.-based Catholic Health Services of Long Island. 2. The multispecialty ASC facility is designed to treat complex cases such as total joint replacement and spine disorders. 3. The 15,000-square-foot ASC has five operating rooms, along with four preoperative and 15 postoperative beds. 4. The joint venture involved St. Francis Hospital, 34 physician partners and Regent Surgical Health, which owns or operates 23 U.S. surgical facilities, 18 hospital joint ventures and nine total joint replacement centers. 5. The surgery center opened on St. Francis Hospital's ambu- latory campus. 6. "A robust ambulatory platform is no longer optional. Hospi- tals like St. Francis Hospital are at the forefront and as a result, they are well positioned to embrace the risk and realize the opportunities ambulatory care platforms offer," said Regent Surgical Health COO Robert Ryan. n New York health system eliminating outpatient surgery due to freestanding surgery center proliferation — 5 insights By Eric Oliver U tica, N.Y.-based Mohawk Valley Health System will no longer perform outpatient surgery at its Faxton campus, WIBX 950 reports. Here's what you should know. 1. The campus is no longer offering outpatient sur- geries due to an increased number of freestanding surgery centers in the area. 2. MVHS will still provide outpatient surgery services at its St. Luke's and St. Elizabeth campuses, both in Utica. 3. The health system will stop accepting new outpa- tients and anticipates all outpatient surgery activity at its Faxton campus will cease between three months and six months from March. 4. The Faxton campus performed nearly 1,800 outpa- tient surgeries in 2017. 5. MVHS will transition the 44 employees associ- ated with its outpatient surgery department to other roles. n