Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Novant Health is accelerating its outpatient strategy as it builds out a 25-center ASC network designed to shift volume out of hospitals and closer to patients.
Leslie Barrett, BSN, RN, senior vice president of ambulatory surgery strategy and execution at Novant Health, told Becker’s the system is focused on creating a flexible outpatient platform that supports physician alignment, capacity management and long-term value-based goals.
“Novant Health is building a flexible, scalable outpatient surgical network in a way that benefits everyone involved,” she said. “It offers patients affordability and expanded access close to home.”
At the center of Novant’s strategy is site-of-service optimization. As more procedures become clinically appropriate for outpatient settings, the system is migrating lower-acuity cases to ASCs, freeing hospital capacity for more complex patients.
With new centers coming online, Novant can move cases more seamlessly into ASC settings, improving throughput while better aligning patient needs with the appropriate level of care, Ms. Barrett said.
To support that shift, the health system has implemented governance tools to guide site-of-service decisions and standardize processes across markets. It has also developed staffing models and recruitment pipelines built to scale as outpatient volumes grow.
Novant is also calibrating its expansion plans alongside recent certificate-of-need changes.
“We are being thoughtful about these needs and how they align with recent certificate-of-need changes as we begin the year,” she said. “These recent changes enable us to continually evaluate how different care settings fit into the broader healthcare continuum to provide the most quality and value for our patients.”
Novant expects specialties such as orthopedics, ophthalmology, gastroenterology and pain management to continue driving outpatient growth due to their efficiency, predictability and strong ASC fit.
To attract and retain physician partners, the system offers multiple alignment structures, including syndication, co-management services, MSO services and tiered equity models.
The goal is to provide flexibility while ensuring operational consistency across the network, Ms. Barrett said.
As payers increasingly prioritize cost control and outcomes under value-based models, Novant views its ASC strategy as both an operational and financial lever.
The system’s strategy also allows Novant to respond to “shifting expectations from payers to prioritize outcomes in a value-based care model, all while complementing our broader system goals,” she said.
