As more procedures shift to outpatient settings, consolidation of physician groups, ASCs and platforms is likely to continue.
Private equity has carved out its place in healthcare and will keep consolidation moving forward, according to many executives in the industry.
Continued consolidation provides both challenges and opportunities, from more physicians becoming their own contractors to health systems having greater control over referral networks.
Here is what four leaders predict with respect to consolidation throughout the industry:
Note: Responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.
Scott Mayer. CEO of Ambulatory Anesthesia Care (Rosemont, Ill.): There’s a lot of physicians and healthcare workers in general that are trying to gain back some autonomy, some control, some freedom. The consolidators just keep getting bigger, whether it comes to platforms or health systems, it’s definitely becoming more corporate. That’s forced a lot of [providers] — especially on the anesthesia side — to be their own independent contractors.
David Konur. CEO of Cardiovascular Logistics: As we see site-of-service differential go away in diagnostic imaging between the HOPD rates and the outpatient world, and as Medicare continues to shift its focus on cardiovascular care being treated more in the outpatient arena than the inpatient arena, we’re going to see more and more hospitals looking for alternatives to how they’re going to deal with their cardiology programs. If site-of-service differential goes away, there is going to be a huge influx of cardiologists looking to join platforms like ours, and we’re already talking to almost a dozen groups that are very interested in what that would look like, because as they read the tea leaves, they see that coming as well.
That pendulum that swung all the way over to hospital employment, we see that starting to swing back the other way. I would expect to see an increase in consolidation in the specialty. I think this partnership is a great example of the leaders within cardiovascular medicine coming together. Our platform is not a roll-up play where we’re trying to roll up a bunch of small practices from all over the place. We’re bringing together the true thought leaders that have been thought leaders for decades to fundamentally change how we deliver care in our country.
Ali Ghalayini. ASC Administrator of Advanced Spine Center of Wisconsin (Neenah): As the U.S. healthcare landscape continues to evolve, hospital consolidation is emerging as a dominant trend and one with profound implications for spine care delivery. From the perspective of ambulatory surgery centers, this consolidation wave represents both a significant challenge and a unique strategic opportunity. With hospitals merging into large, integrated networks, ASCs must adapt to preserve their share of the spine care market and continue offering high-quality, cost-effective alternatives.
One of the most immediate consequences of hospital consolidation is the increased dominance of health systems and their ability to control referral networks. As hospitals acquire physician groups and consolidate services, spine referrals are more frequently kept in house and directed to hospital outpatient departments. This limits access for independent ASCs, particularly those without formal affiliations or joint ventures with hospital systems. To remain competitive, ASCs must build stronger partnerships with independent spine surgeons and maintain robust relationships with referring providers.
Easwar Sundaram Jr., MD. President of Texas Institute for Neurological Disorders (Dallas): The disruptive trend is without doubt failing small or medium-sized group practices and individual practices under the weight of declining revenues and rising costs. Private equity is the thing in vogue, and very soon all physicians will be employed either by mega-insurance companies or private equity. There will be consolidations all over, with just large groups with less access for patients.
The post The future of physician consolidation appeared first on Becker’s ASC.
