4 Surgery Center Predictions From Bob Scheller of Nikitis Resource Group

1. Further downward reimbursement pressure from insurers. Health plans are increasingly seeking to pay less,” Mr. Scheller says. “Medicare already pays hospitals twice what they pay ASCs for the same procedure, unfortunately for surgery centers.” He says private payors will continue to follow Medicare’s lead.
 
2. Stronger focus on efficiency. “If ASCs see a decrease in volume driven by the economy, they will have to go back to basics and strive for greater efficiency in staffing and purchasing to maintain topnotch patient care,” he says. “This economy is something we (ASCs) have been preparing for a long time.”
                                                       
3. More ASCs in non-CON states seeking to convert to surgical hospitals. “I think as hospital outpatient department reimbursements continue to outpace ASC reimbursement, some ASCs will flip models to surgical hospitals to capture that added revenue,” Mr. Scheller says. “Of course they must weigh many other factors as well.”
 
4. More hospital/physician joint-venture ASCs. As the economy worsens, both physicians and hospitals will find more reasons to partner, including physician capital access needs from deeper hospital financial resources and purchasing power and hospital need to preserve market share. “We believe in joint ventures and think they’re the strongest models that work in communities,” Mr. Scheller says. “But economic pressures may accelerate the pace of those kinds of partnerships.”
 
Mr. Scheller (rschellerj@aol.com) is the co-founder and COO for NRG, an ASC development and management firm based in Hobart, Ind., that manages 17 ASCs in eight states. Prior to helping form NRG, Mr. Scheller held executive positions at Aspen Healthcare.