While hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers consider numerous factors before entering into a partnership, Sandra Jones, founder and president of Ambulatory Strategies, said one of the key factors is that organizations must trust their potential partners.
Ms. Jones voiced her thoughts on the relationship between hospitals and ASCs during a panel discussion at the Becker's ASC 25th Annual Meeting: The Business and Operations of ASCs conference, which was held Oct. 18-20 in Chicago. She was joined by Nader Samii, CEO of National Medical Billing Services.
Here are three key takeaways from the discussion:
1. Ms. Jones said hospitals' and ASCs' business decisions are largely guided by the industry. She said hospitals in particular are constantly looking for ways to increase their patient populations while still offering low-cost options.
"There's a lot of movement in the industry, and [hospitals' decision-making] really depends on the marketplace and what's going on with the health system. I think hospitals are terrified of having the same fees, regardless of place of service, so they're looking at what they can do to set up their own hospital outpatient department and try to operate it as an ASC," she said.
2. In discussing what makes an ASC attractive or unattractive to hospital systems, Mr. Samii said physician alignment and patient access are significant factors.
"I think there are also strategic decisions to look at how ASCs can broaden patient access … and if there are additional surgical specialties or surgeons [hospitals] can bring in to strengthen the organization. A lot of the health systems haven't managed ASCs, so everything from negotiating contracts to the day-to-day running of the centers to … the entire back end of the revenue cycle [are factors hospitals consider before investing in an ASC]" he said.
3. "You have to trust your partners. [The partnership] should not weaken the physician group, but … actually advance patient care and business," Ms. Jones said, adding that both the hospital system and the ASC should "decide what [they] want out of the partnership" before signing any paperwork.