Regent Surgical, a Tennessee firm that will manage the Penn-IBX locations, called the corporate structure a pioneer for involving a health system, insurer, and management firm.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System and Independence Blue Cross, the Philadelphia area’s largest insurer, have formed a new company with plans to open at least 18 regional surgery centers.
The for-profit company announced Thursday is part of an effort by Penn and IBX to bring lower-cost procedures closer to patients, while maintaining quality and safety, officials said.
For Penn, the venture represents a financial leap, because it means the nonprofit health system will intentionally accept significantly lower payments for part of its business.
“We need to work on affordability in healthcare. It’s too expensive. It’s bankrupting families,” Penn CEO Kevin Mahoney said.
Medicare and private insurers like IBX who pay the healthcare bills “want to move to less costly settings,” he said, and Penn needs to be ready to capture that business.
IBX’s CEO Kelly Munson emphasized the importance of partnerships to tackle rising healthcare costs. She noted that shifting care to ambulatory surgery centers from hospital departments can generate as much as a 50% discount.
“The healthcare affordability crisis won’t be solved alone,” Munson said.
A third investor in the company is Regent Surgical, a Tennessee firm with private equity investors that will manage the local centers. Its tasks include forcing efficiency. Regent already manages 40 sites in 15 states. Penn clinicians will provide services.
Regent’s CEO Travis Messina called the new company the first of its kind nationally. “I’ve yet to see one that has involved both a payer, a provider, as well as a management company,” he said.
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