1. Fair Market Value Not Maintained on Lease Expense — Kenny Spitler, senior vice president – development for HealthMark Partners, discusses situations where physician partners in the ASC enter into an inflated lease contract, placing pressure on the business or driving the business into a negative cash flow situation.
2. Accepting Highest Bidder but not Best Long-Term Partner — Kevin McDonough, senior manager at the Dallas office of VMG Health, discusses why an ASC looking for a partner shouldn’t base its decision solely on who is offering the most upfront money.
3. Blocking New Physicians — Dawn Q. McLane RN, MSA, CASC, CNOR, discusses why physician-owners should not stand in the way of potentially bringing in new investors.
4. Failure to Control Staff Salaries — Lisa Austin, RN, CASC, vice president of ASC operations for Pinnacle III, discusses how ASCs can avoid poor cost-effective compensation models for their staff.
5. Waiting Too Long to Find a Partner — Jon Vick, president of ASCs Inc., discusses the implications of struggling ASCs failing to find a partner before the situation gets even worse.
6. Overlooking Hidden Costs of New Equipment and Technology — John Dooley, MD, an anesthesiologist and administrator at Mississippi Valley Surgery Center in Davenport, Iowa, says ASCs must remember that the cost of new equipment is more than what’s on the price.
7. Staff Wearing ‘Too Many Hats’ — Tom Jacobs, CEO and co-founder of MedHQ, describes the critical mistake made by ASCs of asking unqualified staff members to oversee vital business needs.
8. Failure to Regularly Audit Dictated Surgeons’ Reports — Bill Gilbert, vice president of marketing, and Brice Voithofer, vice president of ASC and anesthesia services, for AdvantEdge Healthcare Solutions, discuss the dangers of not regularly auditing dictated surgeons’ reports.
9. Not Talking to Competition — Linda K. Peterson, MBA, CEO of Executive Solutions for Healthcare, discusses why ASCs should consider the benefits of forming a relationship with a competing ASC.
10. Making Impulse Supply Purchases — Georganna Howell, administrator of Baltimore-based Greenspring Surgery Center, explains why ASCs should never make impulse purchases of supplies and materials.
