From investing in staff to facility upgrades, five ASC leaders joined Becker’s to discuss what their top priorities for investment are heading into 2026.
Editor’s note: These responses were edited for clarity and length.
Question: What are your ASCs’ top priorities for investment heading into 2026, and how are you deciding where to focus resources?
Janet Carlson, MSN, RN. Vice President of ASC Operations of Advanced Surgical Institute (Louisville, Ky.): Patient monitoring, engagement and communication technology, facility upgrades to facilitate higher acuity case migration from hospital or HOPD to our ASCs, and always a top priority is to invest in our teammates. They are are the reason we can provide outstanding excellent reproducible patient outcomes and serve our surgeons.
Brenda Carter. Administrator of Southwest Idaho ENT (Boise): This is always a question. We continue to invest in staff and staff retention, but 2026 will be a year for investing in facility upgrades and improved technology. Patients have a choice and we strive to lead our specialty with excellent, state of the art care and patient satisfaction. New, upgraded facilities and technology that is easy to use are two key elements of patient satisfaction.
Curtis Collins. Chief Operating Officer of Palmetto Surgery Center (Columbia, S.C.): People. This is on our priority list that carries over every year. We are constantly looking for ways to better retain, pay, and bonus our team.
Jeffrey Flynn. Administrator and COO of Gramercy Surgery Center (New York City): Focusing on expanding our spine and joint programs.
Bonnie Greenblatt. Director of Ambulatory Surgical Services of Michigan Institute of Urology (Utica): We will be growing from two centers to three, in the year 2026. One of the most important investments will be in staffing, both for new staff and to maintain current staffing. Competitive compensation, cross-training, leadership development, staffing models that support growth without burnout, are just a few tools that we will depend upon to assure proper staff and workforce expansion. Revenue cycle optimization is another area of priority — fully utilizing all analytic tools available to us within our EMR and other systems, prior authorization and denial management tools to reduce administrative burden, and contract negotiation to ensure payor alignment.
