Four ASC leaders joined Becker’s to discuss how physician workforce dynamics are shaping ASCs.
Jeffrey Flynn. Administrator and COO of Gramercy Surgery Center (New York City): The trend of hospitals buying out practice is slowing down. The new trend is large megagroups coming together through private equity as the new challenges and opportunities. Some of these groups have opted not to directly enter the ASC space, but to achieve efficiency and participate in risk plans have started partnering with us.
Andrew Lovewell. CEO of Columbia (Mo.) Orthopaedic Group: Physician workforce trends certainly have an impact on the ASC landscape. The ASC landscape is being shaped by a growing shift toward physician employment, with more surgeons joining hospital systems, limiting the pool of independent physicians available for ASC partnerships. However, many physicians are still looking for autonomy and control over surgical outcomes and demanding that ASCs be an option even in hospital employment. In addition, many consumers (patients and payers) are looking for an ASC as an alternative to the traditional hospital environment. Independent ASCs must adapt by offering innovative ownership models, increased autonomy and competitive financial incentives to attract and retain top surgical talent. If independent ASCs partner with hospitals in joint venture models there could possibly be win-wins that create long-term success.
Juan Uson. Administrator of the Surgery Center of Wasilla (South Lakes, Alaska): Retiring partners and challenges in finding succession especially to those successful ASCs whose shares fair market value is high.
Abbey Vandersall, MD. Chief Clinical Officer of AmSurg (Nashville, Tenn.): There are two major trends that I’m monitoring.
First, labor shortages, which have persisted beyond the initial exacerbation from the COVID-19 pandemic, remain a primary concern in cost-control. On the physician side, the anesthesia provider crisis is especially challenging, leading providers and management companies to create unique scheduling solutions to minimize the cost burden. On the plus side, this pressure is driving innovation, and we’ve seen surgeons and anesthesiologists successfully collaborate on new models.
The second workforce trend on my radar is the evolution in generational preferences. Younger physicians are prioritizing work-life balance, which helps in ASC recruiting. However, they’re less interested in entrepreneurial ventures. Younger physicians are also more hesitant to step away from the hospital support structures that they trained with, shifting the pool of potential ASC recruits towards those that have been practicing for a decade or more.”
