The ASC doesn’t take private or public insurance and doesn’t negotiate prices, but the price is still often lower than what patients can get through insurance. The ASC’s owner, anesthesiologist Keith Smith, MD, said he built his all-cash model after years of disillusionment with payer, health system and patient relationships.
Dr. Smith and his colleague, Steven Lantier, MD, left private practice in 1997 to found the ASC. In 2009, Dr. Smith began posting prices online, and the clear all-inclusive nature of the payment model has since attracted people from all over the country, according to D Magazine.
Physicians and patients, rather than hospitals or insurers, operate in the best interest of each other, Dr. Smith told D Magazine. If the procedure ends up costing the center more than the agreed-upon price, the center covers the rest.
The clinic’s staff of 120 saw as many as 700 cases a month before the pandemic, according to the article.
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