ASC Leader to Know: Dr. Larry Teuber of Medical Facilities Corporation

Larry Teuber, MD, currently serves as president of Medical Facilities Corporation, a company that owns 51 percent interest in four specialty surgical hospitals in South Dakota and Oklahoma and two ASCs in California. According to the company's website, MFC's philosophy focuses on efficiency and productivity, and its specialty hospitals strive to create a superior environment to traditional hospitals so that MFC facilities are a first choice for patients and surgeons.

An article in The Wall Street Journal highlighted Dr. Teuber's success with Medical Facilities Corp., echoing a trend that saw many physicians turning to specialty hospitals to escape the financial pressure of malpractice insurance premiums and stingy insurance companies. In response to criticism from local Rapid City Regional Hospital that Dr. Teuber's surgery center took healthier, more profitable patients from the hospital, Dr. Teuber said regional administrators simply became too comfortable with the hospital's longtime monopoly status.

He compared Black Hills Surgery Center's policy of using a single brand of implant and negotiating discounts with the hospital's policy of letting each surgeon choose his or her own implant brand. The report also showed physicians at the hospital made substantially more than Black Hills surgeons and Dr. Teuber himself.

Dr. Teuber has spent much of his career developing successful ASCs. In an interview with Becker's ASC Review, he discussed techniques to develop a healthy spine-driven ASC, saying such a center "ideally merges the specialties of neurosurgery and orthopedics with three key elements." These elements include: marketing the program to include non-invasive conservative care, pain management and surgical techniques, standardizing surgical equipment and combining progressive, new techniques with cheaper, established techniques.  

In addition to his work with MFC, Dr. Teuber is the physician executive of Black Hills (S.D.) Surgical Hospital, which he founded in 1997. A board-certified neurological surgeon, Dr. Teuber is also the founder and current managing partner of The Spine Center in Rapid City, S.D., and a consultant on development and management of surgical facilities.

Dr. Tuber earned his MD from the University of South Dakota and completed his surgery internship and neurosurgery residency at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. He also served for 17 years in the active and reserve U.S. Army as an aviation and medical officer, retiring with the rank of major after serving in Desert Storm 1.

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