Jim Freund, managing partner at Physician Transaction Advisors, joined Becker’s to discuss how the biggest surprise he’s seen in the ASC partnership market is from lawmakers and regulators stepping in to block or scrutinize deals he believes are “really for the consumer.”
Editor’s note: This interview was edited lightly for clarity and length.
Question: Looking back over the last year or so and various partnerships, is there any trend that surprised you the most on your end?
Jim Freund: I would say the biggest surprise for me is legislation and how the government has injected themselves into healthcare in approving transactions and partnerships that are really good for the consumer, but they’re not quite understanding why. Why the consolidators are involved, why private equity is involved in healthcare.
The thought from big government seems to be that it’s about a challenge in terms of quality of care delivered, when really it’s much more about providing the resources that independent physicians need to be successful. So we have a very different view of that landscape than many of the politicians do.
Question: What do you think politicians specifically aren’t understanding about the ASC industry?
JF: I think what they don’t understand is that you’re providing a tremendous service to patients and to our healthcare system as a whole, because you’re providing the same service — a high-quality surgical procedure — in a more convenient, less costly manner, with the same type of controls in place that you have in a hospital setting.
And you’re providing the physicians, through these partnerships, with the ability to continue to do that instead of forcing them into a position where they’ve got to become employed physicians, and have to go work for a hospital to get these procedures done. So I think that’s what they don’t understand — how critically important independent physicians are to the delivery of healthcare in this country, and that entrepreneurial spirit that has driven it.
They’ve made it increasingly challenging for them, from the reporting requirements to the technology requirements that were driven essentially by politicians who are linked to the folks who are developing EHRs.When they truly understand what surgery centers are all about and the value they bring, it’s really eye-opening for a lot of folks.
