Latest News & Analysis
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1. Office of Inspector General Issues Advisory Opinion -- Physician/Hospital Joint-Venture. 
2. Increased Interest in EHR Donations Under the Stark Act: 9 Issues to Consider.
3. Bill Would Require Physician Self-Referral Disclosure to Patients for In-Office Imaging Services.
4. USPI Is Seeking an Administrator for Its California Ambulatory Surgical Treatment Center.
5. John Caruso, MD: Getting Comfortable With Outpatient Spine Surgeries.
6. Erdman Reveals New Company Name and Logo.
7. We Would Like to Thank Facility Development & Management for Sponsoring the October Conference's Room Key Tags and Becoming an Advertiser in the E-Weekly; Schedule Surgery for Becoming a Silver Exhibitor for the October Conference; Physicians Endoscopy for Becoming an Advertiser in the Hospital Review; and Ambulatory Surgical Group for Becoming an Exhibitor at the October Conference and an Advertiser in the E-Weekly.
8. SourceMedical Named a Top 100 Healthcare IT Company.
9. Building and Operating a Surgery Center -- 11 Critical Mistakes.
10. One Week Left to Register for Case Costing and Advanced Benchmarking for ASCs Audio Conference (Aug. 6). Hear From Ann Geier, Vice President of Operations for ASCOA, and Susan Kizirian, COO of ASCOA. Complimentary Registration Available for ASC Review Subscribers. Limit 50 Registrants.
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20 Principles to Assess How Your Center Measures Up for Valuation Purposes
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Jon O'Sullivan, a principle of VMG Health, identifies the top 20 principles you can use to assess how your ASC measures up for the purposes of valuation. Here's a sampling:
1. Percent of revenue produced by owners
2. Number of physician owners
3. Number of non owner physician users
4. Revenue dispersion among owners
5. Revenue dispersion among non owners
To view the complete list, click here.
Learn more about VMG Health.
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Make the Nine Groupers Still Work for You
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Payors that have followed Medicare's payment system in the past, but don't want to switch to the new system, may give you myriad reasons/excuses - they need more time to analyze the methodology, their systems don't have the capability to handle the change, etc. But, if it's advantageous for you, at least push payors to acknowledge the new payment rates are a fair baseline from which to negotiate.
"If they pay you based upon 2007 rates ... then you're accepting less from that payor than you are Medicare, so essentially a governmental program is subsidizing a private payor," says Elizabeth Smallwood, CMPE, vice president, contracting and reimbursement, for Blue Chip Surgical Center Partners, and a former director of contracting for Humana of Ohio, with experience working for Aetna, and Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield. "I say, 'you have to convert to the 2008 rates and give me something plus Medicare. We can debate about what that plus Medicare is, but you need to at least made Medicare's 2008 rates as the baseline.'"
If you can get a payor to agree to this argument, but it is just unwilling to switchover and wants to keep you in the old nine grouper system, you can still find financial benefits by staying in the groupers, says Ms. Smallwood.
To learn the approach Ms. Smallwood takes with carriers, click here.
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| ASC Communications & Ambulatory Surgery Foundation Fall Conference and Becker's ASC Review
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15th Annual Improving Profits and Business and Legal Issues for ASCs
Presented by ASC Communications and the Ambulatory Surgery Foundation
Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Chicago
Oct. 23 to 25 Five great sample topics:
1. 10 Things We've Learned From the New CMS Reimbursement System and Coverage Rules -- Robert Cates, National Director of Managed Care, NSC
2. Current Strategies to Handle Out-of-Network and High Deductible Patients -- Cathy Weaver, Senior Manager, Somerset CPAs; John Seitz, CEO, Ambulatory Surgical Group
3. Revitalizing an ASC - A Case Study -- Don Cook, President and CEO, Pacific Surgical
Partners
4. How a Hospital Partner Can Help an ASC - Should Your Hospital Own Shares and How
Much Should It Own? -- Phil Taylor, MD, Knightsbridge Surgical Center; Robert Carrera, CEO, Pinnacle III; Ed Hetrick, President, Facility Development and Management
5. Assessing the Profitability of Different Specialties in ASCs -- Luke Lambert, CEO, ASCOATo see the entire agenda, download the conference brochure (PDF).
There are four ways to register: 1. Fill out and mail or fax the registration form in the conference brochure.
2. Call (703) 836-5904 or (800) 417-2035
3. Register online by clicking here.
4. E-mail registration@ascassociation.org. |
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Contact us toll-free: (800) 417-2035
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12 IT Companies
to Know
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1. Surgical Notes. A preeminent nationwide provider of medical transcription, coding and other related value-added information technology services for the ASC market, Surgical Notes provides transcription, coding and practice management solutions to over 420 surgery centers and 6,300 physicians in over 40 states. Learn more about Surgical Notes.
2. ProVation Medical. ProVation Medical has created ProVation EHR, the first electronic health record designed for busy, cost-conscious ASCs. Learn more about Provation.
3. SourceMedical. SourceMedical is the leading provider of outpatient information solutions and services, collectively serving ASCs and surgical hospitals. Read more about SourceMedical.
4. Amkai. Amkai is a software company with 20-plus years of experience delivering administrative and clinical solutions to ASCs, surgical hospitals and physician practices. Read more about Amkai.
5. QSE Technologies. QSE Technologies is a premiere IT systems integrator serving the ambulatory healthcare industry for more than five years. Read more about QSE.
6. zChart. zChart EMR was developed by dozens of healthcare professionals -- administrators, office staff, nurses and physicians -- at multi-specialthy outpatient surgery centers. Learn more about zChart..
7. ScheduleSurgery. ScheduleSurgery.com's SCOR is a multi-purpose communication tool that works with existing scheduling systems to leverage the power of the Internet to improve any ASC's scheduling efficiency. Learn more about ScheduleSurgery.com.
8. Mednet. Mednet is a software technology company, led by a group of professionals from the ASC market that understand the core of your business practice and its unique requirements. Learn more about Mednet.
9. CTQ Solutions. CTQ Solutions provides cost effective and quality products that help outpatient facilities monitor, benchmark and improve patient satisfaction, by leveraging innovative online technology. Read more about CTQ.
10. MedTek.net. MedTek is a leading provider of Web-based medical transcription solutions that are secure and HIPAA-ready for healthcare providers and healthcare organizations. Read more about MedTek.
11. Experior Healthcare Systems. Experior is a leading integrator of healthcare enterprise systems. Learn more about Experior.
12. HST Pathways. HST has used the latest technical innovations in the architectural development of HSTpathways and designed the foundation to be more secure, reliable and scalable than ever before in the field of ASC applications. Read more about HST.
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Upcoming ASC Events
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ASC Benchmarking and Case-Costing
Aug. 6, 2008
Audio Conference
Physician/Hospital Integration Efforts
Sept. 25, 2008
Audio Conference
15th Improving Profitability, and Business, Strategic, Clinical and Legal Issues for ASCs
Oct. 23 to 25, 2008
Chicago
For a complete list of upcoming events, click here
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Becker's ASC Review Subscriber Benefits
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As a Becker's ASC Review subscriber, you are entitled to the following benefits: 1. Becker's ASC Review delivered to your door; 2. subscriber discounts on the audio conference registrations; 3. $100 off registration for the June conference; 4. $50 off registration for both the October conference; and 5. a free copy of the VMG Health Intellimarker benchmarking survey. To subscribe to the Becker's ASC Review, go to www.BeckersASC.com. |
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Editorial Contacts
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For more information about print and online stories, please contact editorial.
Stephanie Wasek
Co-Editor-in-Chief
(484) 866-1292
e-mail Stephanie
Rob Kurtz
Director of Communications
(410) 874-7681
e-mail Rob
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