Operational efficiency, cost management and patient experience are key principles guiding ASC leaders’ strategies for success in 2026 as they navigate a rapidly changing healthcare environment.
Three ASC leaders recently joined Becker’s to discuss the initiatives they plan on implementing in the year ahead.
Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: What’s one initiative you’re prioritizing at your organization in 2026 and why?
Peter Bravos, MD. Chief Medical Officer of Sutter Health Surgery Center Division (Sacramento, Calif.): I am prioritizing systemwide access maximization across our ambulatory surgery platform. As our ASC capacity expands, the primary constraint is no longer physical space, but the effective planning of OR utilization, anesthesia coverage, staffing, and scheduling. By shifting from reactive to proactive scheduling and leveraging data with access management, we will improve patient access, optimize existing capacity, as well as strengthen physician and workforce engagement. Ultimately, this will afford us the opportunity to scale growth safely while maintaining high performance and delivering sustainable value.
Brian Evans. COO of Optim Health Systems (Savannah, Ga.): We continue our efforts to identify opportunities for operating expense reductions, concentrating specifically on non-labor initiatives that preserve the quality of patient care. This intensified focus is a necessary response to challenges such as shifts in payer mix, reduced reimbursement rates from commercial payers, and the significant uncertainty surrounding the population of uninsured/underinsured individuals heading into the next year.
Cory Koenig, DO. VP of Operations at Providence Anesthesiology Associates (Charlotte, N.C.): Our organization will continue to be flexible and look at ways that we can continue to partner in efforts to increase utilization and efficiency for our anesthesia coverage. The financial projections and staffing issues simply don’t support a system where you have anesthesia services that aren’t being fully utilized.
