Regent Surgical Health is hosting a workshop, “Start Executing Bundles by 2020,” during Becker’s 17th Annual Future of Spine + The Spine, Orthopedic and Pain Management-Driven ASC Conference, slated for June 13-15 in Chicago.
Moderated by Regent CEO Chris Bishop, the workshop includes Chris Stine, Regent’s Director of Bundled Payments & Corporate Compliance Officer and Oregon-based surgeons James C. Ballard, M.D., P.C., and Christopher J. Nanson, M.D., M.P.H.
The workshop offers a complete guide to forming surgeon-owned and surgeon-directed bundle partnerships, aligning incentives, developing your process, contracting with payers, managing risk, and executing a bundled payment strategy. With Regent, Drs. Ballard and Nanson have been at the forefront of operationalizing bundled payments for ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). They perform hundreds of outpatient Total Joint Replacement (TJR) procedures a year at Oregon Surgical Institute, an ASC built specifically for TJR, and are the founding partners at Oregon Surgical Select, a surgeon-owned convener designed solely for the management of bundled payments and episodes of care.
“Providers and payers are beginning to recognize the opportunity bundled payments offer to greatly reduce the cost of certain high-volume, high-cost procedures like total joint replacements and spinal fusions,” says Stine. “These procedures offer some of the greatest opportunities for savings for the healthcare system.”
Drs. Ballard and Nanson have embraced bundled payments at OSI, for the opportunities the approach presents to provide high-quality TJR procedures at lower cost than at a hospital.
“The biggest challenge is cost containment and the appropriate utilization of resources,” Dr. Nanson says. “The opportunities presented by value-based care and bundled payments are huge for ASCs, but sometimes they aren’t readily embraced by hospitals, who often use orthopedic cases to pay for their nonprofitable service lines. But it’s going to happen. The question is whether physicians will stay in the driver’s seat by proving we can manage this effectively. If we take the best care of patients and collect the data to prove we’re doing that, it’s a gigantic opportunity.”
“There is no question that before anything can happen the surgeon has to be committed to the idea,” Dr. Ballard adds. “That commitment is required to take them through hours and hours of meetings, planning, and preparation. It takes time, but it is worth it.”
