A new guide from Regent Surgical Health outlines six trends for ambulatory surgery centers in 2018 that forecast growth through value-based care strategies, new payment models, and the continued shift of higher acuity cases to ASCs, and more. The guide is one of the ways Regent is helping ASCs and health systems assess their ambulatory strategy, a key to positioning them to thrive in a changing healthcare landscape.
Don Phalen, vice president of business development at Regent, will discuss the trends outlined in the guide during Becker’s ASC 24th Annual Meeting: The Business and Operations of ASCs, slated for October 26-28 at the Swissotel in Chicago, IL. The guide also is available for download here.
According to Regent, one of the nation’s leading surgery center management and development companies, the macro trend is certainly the industry’s ongoing transition toward value-based care. The healthcare industry’s evolution away from fee-for-service care continues to gain traction, and is changing the game for ASCs as the quest for “Value” replaces “Volume,” and hospital systems strive to optimize ambulatory care platforms by embracing strategic, structural, and operational approaches to enhance value-based care strategies.
Five additional trends impacting ASC growth are outlined in the guide:
- Total Joint Replacement (TJR) – the shift of TJR procedures from hospitals to ASCs continues to gain momentum
- Bundled Payment – fastest growing payment type, bundled payment is expected to reach 17% percent of all medical payment types in 5 years
- HOPD Conversion — unheard of 5 years ago, physician preference and patient convenience, lower cost and better outcomes are driving conversion of hospital outpatient departments to ASCs – often as joint ventures between hospital systems and respected physicians’ groups
- Employed Physicians as ASC Partners – As health systems build strategic ambulatory platforms that include ASC joint ventures as an important recruitment and retention tool, the once ill-advised practice of offering employed physicians ownership in ASCs has become a trend.
- Specialty Centers – More robust ambulatory platforms feature an increasing variety of interconnected assets to help raise the utility and profitability of each resource beyond its own specific contribution to revenue.
For additional information on each of these 2018 trends, or learn more about how Regent is helping health systems assess their ambulatory strategy, contact Don Phalen at 630-400-8440 or dphalen@regentsh.com.