Joyce K. (Deno) Thomas, senior vice president operations for Regent Surgical Health, explains why some physician-owners of ASCs start to forget that their ASC needs to be a top priority to succeed.
Joyce Thomas: Once the ASC is up and running one to two years and the honeymoon is over, frequently the partnership will stop acting cohesively. The physicians start picking on each other and undermining one another by doing things like comparing case revenue or commenting on one physician's caseload or number of low paying patients a physician treats. Eventually they may even suggest kicking out physicians or will want preferential treatment for those physicians they think are producing more for the bottom line. That will rip apart a partnership in a facility incredibly fast.
Your physician partners have to stay good businessmen, level-headed and thinking together as a team rather than as an individual. When you select your board members, who can help control this issue or put a stop to it, you need to critically look at partners who have a good, level head. Look at who is going to be the best [leaders] for the facility because they're good businessmen rather than putting in the most popular physicians or the physicians doing the most cases. This may help to get away from the in-fighting.
You also need to have an administrator who can do reality checks and isn't afraid to step up to the physicians and say things like, "every case that comes here helps contribute to the bottom line and pays the rent;" "When you're on vacation, the rent still goes on;" and, "As long as the cases contribute to the bottom line and we have the capacity, we are going to be a facility that recognizes the value of every person." An administrator needs to be somebody who is your champion and can maintain that level head.
Learn more about Regent Surgical Health.
Read more insight from the leadership team of Regent Surgical Health:
- Maximizing the ASC Accounts Receivable Process
- Understanding Financials: Your Balance Sheet
- Positioning a Center for Recruiting New Physicians