There are an array of financial hurdles for ASCs right now, especially those on the smaller side when it comes to reimbursement challenges, rising operational costs and changes to the supply chain to name a few.
Being proactive and out in front of those challenges and changes are a great way for ASCs to keep up performance and make returns on their investment.
Alexandra Hogue, director of operations at Houston-based Orbis Surgery Center, a physician-owned ASC that is opening up another facility in the near future, recently joined the Becker’s Ambulatory Surgery Centers podcast to share how the organization is staying ahead of the curve.
Note: Responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: How are you managing, or trying to proactively manage costs given this big investment that you’re making in terms of growing your ASC with that second center?
Alexandra Hogue: This is definitely something that’s pretty daunting. Obviously, with new changes in government leadership, things can change day to day. I’m frequently looking at the news, looking at new laws that are being passed or potentially being passed, not just, from a federal level, but off also a state level to make sure that as we are making this huge investment, that we’re going to be able to recoup, what we need to to be able to be successful in the market. Because we are a small, physician-owned ASC in the area, one of the challenges that we have consistently is contracts. So it’s not just that we have to worry about Medicare, but we have to worry about how a lot of these commercial payers are going to adjust based on the laws and different changes that have come about. One of the things we’ve done proactively is, onboarded a contracted entity to assist us with some of our payer contracting. How can we get ahead knowing that these percentages might change where we might be looking at, a cost decrease in one service that we provide, but maybe an increase in another. We do have somebody right now that is a third-party that has taken a look at a lot of the codes that we’re using and how we can stay ahead of it.
As soon as those doors open and we work on our accreditation, we’re going to be full steam ahead trying to recoup those funds. So reimbursement is something that’s always at the front of our minds and how we can make sure that one, we’re of course, providing the best care that we can to patients, but also going to be able to afford the new the increase in supply cost, the change in reimbursement and all those things on a consistent basis. So, just really being proactive, making sure that we are up to date on the news, working on payer contracting and just how we can be more efficient in general are kind of our top things that we’re taking a look at with this new facility.
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