In response to growing challenges facing independent ASCs, healthcare consultant Gregg Gordon launched Surgical Solutions IPA, one of the nation’s first independent practice associations dedicated exclusively to ASCs, in 2024.
The New York City-based organization aims to bring together independent ASCs to improve negotiating leverage with payers, reduce administrative overhead and ultimately lower the total cost of care.
“This has been a long time coming,” Mr. Gordon told Becker’s. “It’s been an unoccupied space for ASCs, and I think the timing is finally right.”
Mr. Gordon, who has worked on both the provider and payer sides of the healthcare industry, said ASCs have historically been left out of the IPA conversation.
“In the past, ASCs weren’t as ubiquitous as they are now,” he said. “Many believed their value proposition would eventually be recognized by payers, vendors and others. So they didn’t see the need to organize or form structures like SSIPA. But the landscape has changed.”
That shift, he said, includes growing consolidation among hospital systems and insurers, paired with skyrocketing operating costs for ASCs that have outpaced stagnant reimbursement rates.
“No single ASC has enough leverage to compel payers to negotiate in good faith,” Mr. Gordon said. “Sometimes it’s a struggle just to get a copy of the contract, let alone renegotiate it.”
Currently, SSIPA is partnered with 14 ASCs across New York and expects to expand in the second quarter of 2025. The IPA is also planning to enter the New Jersey market by the end of the year, with ambitions to scale nationally.
“This is definitely a franchisable model,” Mr. Gordon said. “We’ve built a strong operational infrastructure, pulled together a stellar advisory board with some real heavy hitters, and everyone’s been working pro bono to get this off the ground.”
SSIPA’s two-year road map involves focused growth in markets where existing relationships already exist, with cities and regions such as Boston, Chicago, Nashville, Tenn., and South Florida under consideration for expansion.
“By 2027, I expect we’ll be operating in several new markets,” Mr. Gordon said. “The dynamics are similar: high consolidation, rising costs and limited leverage for smaller players.”
With more than three decades of experience navigating both sides of the negotiating table, Mr. Gordon sees SSIPA as a unifying solution.
“This isn’t about fighting payers or hospitals. It’s about building something that benefits everyone — especially the patient,” he said. “Because at the end of the day, everything starts and ends with the patient.”
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