ASCs are balancing both promise and pressure as they expand their role in the healthcare landscape.
Two leaders joined Becker’s to discuss where the industry must focus next to overcome challenges and unlock untapped potential.
Editor’s note: These answers were edited lightly for clarity and flow.
Question: What are the most pressing challenges and the biggest untapped opportunities shaping outpatient and ASC care today?
Tracy Helmer, BSN, RN. Administrator of Tri City Cardiology Surgical Center (Mesa, Ariz.): We have seen movement this year, but the continued study and advancement of proper cases into the outpatient setting is the challenge and the goal. When we can migrate the correct procedures into the space, giving patients a true choice of where to get their care, then we will have accomplished something great. Patients deserve this. It is encouraging to see it moving this direction but much more needs to be done. Safety and efficacy needs to continue to be the primary goal for every ASC and that will help us tap into the cases that belong in our environments.
Allyn Wilcock, CRNA. Owner of Advanced Anesthesia Services and Northwest Healing and Wellness (Snoqualmie, Wash.): As I talk with administrators at various ASCs, regardless of the specialties they serve, staffing remains one of the biggest challenges they mention. The ability to secure reliable, affordable anesthesia services and consistent, but flexible nursing and operating room staff is a key differentiator between ASCs that will thrive and grow in the coming years and those that will struggle to survive. While the anesthesia labor market is expected to stabilize in the coming years, in the short term, obtaining reliable anesthesia coverage will remain a top priority. ASCs that are now paying significant stipends for anesthesia coverage rightfully expect more from their anesthesia group. Excellent communication, simple but thorough patient screening processes and data-based quality assurance and improvement initiatives should now be expected from an ASC-based anesthesia group. Partnering with an anesthesia group that can provide value above the anesthesia care they provide is an untapped opportunity for ASCs.
