Outpatient Clinic Case Study

Convenience. Cost-effectiveness. Low-infection rates. Many reasons exist as to why consumers are increasingly choosing to have surgeries done in outpatient clinics. Furthermore, the fact that healthcare is steadily moving towards a value-based payment model, naturally the appeal of Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs) is increasing.

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If we as a society are trying to bend the cost of healthcare, we need to push more volume out of the inpatient and toward the outpatient, and surgical centers do that.

With the mounting attraction to these types of outpatient healthcare services, more attention is being paid to their operation; whether or not the services provided by outpatient surgery centers should

Under the new laws, ambulatory surgery centers that are already in operation, will be allowed to expand and offer new lines of patient services without the affiliation of an acute care hospital. The article from Medfield explains that these regulations repeal a 20-year moratorium on new outpatient surgical capacity according to Ronna Wallace, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers.

Should Medicare Fund Total Joints in Ambulatory Surgery Centers?

As the popularity of outpatient total joint replacements grow, a question that is receiving more attention in the healthcare community is whether or not Medicare should remove total joint replacements from the inpatient only list.

Recently, Becker's Ambulatory Surgery Center Review interviewed both Derek Johnson, MD, an orthopedic surgeon and secretary at Denver-Vail Orthopedics and Barry Waldman, MD, director of the Center for Joint Preservation and Replacement at the Rubin Institute for Advanced Orthopedics in Baltimore to discuss their views on outpatient total joint replacements and the future for these procedures in the ASC

Surgical Care Affiliate's (SCAI) recent acquisition by the pharmacy benefit manager unit of insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc.(UNH) has sparked curiosity as to whether other surgery center operations will generate takeover interest in this environmental shift towards lower-cost settings.

This story was recently picked up in The Street, and the author points out that the rival of the target, Surgery Partners Inc. (SGRY), is under speculation, but any type of transaction would still be several months in the making. Chad Vanacore of Stifel Nicolaus & Co. sums up the interest of ambulatory surgery center acquisition stating:

"The question is, 'In a post-ACA world, are these more attractive or less attractive assets?'. The market seems to be telling us they're actually still attractive ... If we as a society are trying to bend the cost of healthcare, we need to push more volume out of the inpatient and toward the outpatient, and surgical centers do