“The reason why we came up with this concept is we feel like there are many centers looking to transition ownership over the next few years,” says Mr. Fatianow. “Our pitch to them is don’t transition ownership until you’ve maximized the EBITDA in your center so you can maximize the value you get for that center. This is a service that is an option for doctor-owners who are thinking about selling now but have 6-12 (or more) months to wait, improve the business, and for every additional dollar of EBITDA we can drive, they can bring 5-6 back when it’s time to sell the ASC.”
Free assessment for any ASC
Struggling ASCs, or even ASCs that are performing well but think they can do better, can contact Health Inventures for a free assessment of their financial situation. Health Inventures will then send over to the ASC a short list of information it needs to perform the assessment.
“Then we’ll know how long it’s going to take us to improve the ASC and what specifically we need to do to turn that center around,” Mr. Fatianow says. “If we can’t bring anything to the table, we’ll say so. Not everyone is going to have the profile we’re going to work with. At the very least, what we provide to those people interested in this program is an assessment of what we think can improve.”
Fixed fee likely less than an FTE
If Health Inventures identifies an ASC as a good opportunity for improvement and the ASC brings the company on board, the modest fixed fee Health Inventures charges is less than the likely the cost of a full-time employee, Mr. Fatianow says.
“If the fixed fee is all we get out of it for two years, we’ve lost money as a company,” he says. “When they see the agreement and see the number, they’ll know this is not why we’re doing this.”
Once the short-term agreement with Health Inventures is up, the physician-owners could put the ASC up for sale and the company would exit, or Health Inventures could continue on as a manager or help them find a hospital or different corporate partner.
Successful pilot
Health Inventures has already conducted a pilot of the management approach with a Wyoming ASC.
“We got involved 12 months ago with a center that had steadily declining case volume for two years, and didn’t have owner distribution in two years,” Mr. Fatianow says. “Within the 12 months, the center distributed $480,000 and the net revenue per case went from $1,950 to $2,340, an increase of 20 percent.”
To learn more about working with Health Inventures under this new turnaround model, contact Mr. Fatianow at peter.fatianow@healthinventures.com.
Read more insight from leadership at Health Inventures and its ASCs:
– 4 Best Practices to Improve the Patient Experience in a GI ASC: Mirage Endoscopy Center
– 5 Ways to Improve Your ASC’s Quality of Care and Achieve Great Accreditation Survey Results
