Regent Surgical’s new ASC venture with Penn Medicine and Independence Blue Cross has a hurdle that goes beyond building centers: getting surgeons to use them.
The Franklin, Tenn.-based ASC management company, the Philadelphia-based health system and the health plan announced in September that they plan to develop at least 18 ASCs across Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. The venture is the first ASC company with a health system, a payer and a management company as co-owners.
The Philadelphia market has historically trailed the nation in ASC use. Regent CEO Travis Messina estimated that about 30% of ASC-eligible cases in the Philadelphia metro area are performed in ASCs, which is below the national average.
“There hasn’t historically been a tremendous amount of utilization of ASCs in that market, especially by Penn Medicine physicians,” Mr. Messina told Becker’s. “There is a lot of groundwork that is being laid right now to ensure that they are comfortable with the model, that they are comfortable with that as a site of care for their patients.”
He doesn’t call physician adoption a roadblock, but he said it is something the partners “have to do exceptionally well to ensure that we meet the timelines that we’ve set out.”
Here’s how Regent plans to do it.
Peer-to-peer mentorship
Regent has a multidisciplinary physician advisory board of surgeons from its partnerships across the country. The company brings those surgeons to new partners to share their ASC experience, and new partners can tour existing Regent centers to see how procedures are performed in the setting.
“Keeping quality and safety top of mind, because that is the most important thing with new partners, to ensure that their patients are going to receive high-quality care and that they’ll have the best outcome,” Mr. Messina said. “Having that physician advisory board really helps us drive adoption in a quick manner.”
Embracing residents and fellows
Regent also gives residents and fellows privileges at its centers, which Mr. Messina said sets the company apart from many competitors.
“A lot of ASC management companies have an aversion to working with residents because they feel that it slows down throughput in their ORs,” he said. “We don’t feel that’s the case, and we embrace it.”
The goal is to build comfort with the ASC setting among the next generation of surgeons. “It’s better to have them involved than to completely shut them out of the opportunity,” Mr. Messina said.
Investing in robotics
About a third of Regent’s centers have surgical robots, and Mr. Messina said they matter for surgeons who trained on that technology.
“Increasingly, physicians want that capability so that they can perform procedures in a manner in which they were trained,” he said. “If you didn’t have those robots, it would be very difficult to gain comfort for those surgeons.”
What’s next?
The first centers are expected to open in 2027. Mr. Messina said Pennsylvania has relatively few regulatory constraints, and that Regent’s experience in other states will help the process move quickly.
Most centers will be multispecialty, though some will be single specialty. They will focus on ophthalmology, GI and orthopedics, with cardiology added later. Because Penn Medicine treats a high-acuity patient population, moving complex cases into the outpatient setting will also be a priority.
That’s part of why Regent seeks out academic partners, Mr. Messina said. Their researchers can help identify which procedures move to ASCs next, as CMS phases out the inpatient-only list and total joints and cardiology have shifted to the outpatient setting.
“We’ll be able to create protocols and carry out what we call service line innovation, because these folks are accustomed to creating new pathways for patients,” he said. “I think you’ll see that later in the partnership.”
At the Becker’s 32nd Annual Meeting: The Business and Operations of ASCs, taking place October 29-31 in Chicago, ASC leaders, surgeons and healthcare executives will explore strategies to drive growth, enhance operational performance, navigate reimbursement challenges and prepare for the future of ambulatory surgery. Apply for complimentary registration now.
