Erica Palmer – 10 News Stories Shaping the ASC Industry | This Week in Surgery Centers
Here’s what to expect on this week’s episode. 🎙️
As we reach the midpoint of 2023, it’s the perfect time for us to reflect on the year so far and anticipate what lies ahead in the second half. In this episode, we will dive into ten noteworthy news stories that have been making waves in the ever-evolving surgery center industry. Here’s what to expect:
Top 25 healthcare companies: Fortune 500: UnitedHealth Group tops the Fortune 500 list with $324 billion in revenue for 2022. Other familiar faces help to round out the top 25.
New York extends Medicaid, CHIP postpartum coverage: What does this mean for the country’s healthcare spending and the growing pressure on Medicaid?
Improve Patient Safety with Clinical Technology: ASCs that are investing in clinical technology are seeing increased patient satisfaction scores and patient safety rates.
Where 5 major ASC chains are focused in 2023: What do USPI, SCA, HCA, Surgery Partners, and ValueHealth have planned?
5 highest-paying physician specialties in the last 5 years: Which physician specialties paid the most in the last five years? Hint: the specialty that paid the most in 2018 and 2023 is the same.
3 Quick Tips to Easily Strengthen Your Patient Relationship: Building the patient-provider relationship will be key to your ASC’s long-term success (and ability to collect).
Selling your ASC? 3 steps to improve valuation: ASC management groups, health systems, and private equity firms are planning aggressive ASC expansion strategies. Make sure you sell for top dollar.
AMA takes on AI, Medicare payment at annual meeting: The American Medical Association’s annual meeting took place two weeks ago in Chicago. Here are three of the highlights.
Cybersecurity Incidents: The Hidden ASC Operating Expense: By the end of 2023, it is projected that the total global cost of Cybercrime will reach $8 trillion. Here’s how to prepare.
North Carolina woman becomes a mom and doctor in the span of 24 hours: A woman from North Carolina became a mom and a doctor in the span of 24 hours. Congrats, Dr. Bailiff!
Find the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube to hear all the details.
Episode Transcript
0:00
welcome to this week in surgery centers
0:03
if you’re in the ASC industry then
0:05
you’re in the right place every week
0:08
we’ll start the episode off by sharing
0:10
an interesting conversation we had with
0:11
our featured guest and then we’ll close
0:13
the episode by recapping the latest news
0:15
impacting surgery centers we’re excited
0:18
to share with you what we have so let’s
0:20
get started and see what the industry’s
0:22
been up to
0:23
[Music]
0:27
hi everyone here’s what you can expect
0:29
on today’s episode we’re going to do
0:32
things a little bit differently today
0:34
than we usually do instead of having our
0:36
guest segment and then ending with the
0:38
news recap we’re going to spend our time
0:40
going through 10 news stories that are
0:42
shaping the ASC industry we’ll cover
0:45
mergers and Acquisitions Medicaid
0:47
clinical technology where five major ASC
0:50
chains are focusing their efforts this
0:52
year the country’s spending projections
0:55
cyber security and more and we’ll bounce
0:58
between industry Trends clinical Trends
1:00
articles that look back at 2023 and
1:03
articles that look ahead to the second
1:04
half of the Year hope everyone enjoys
1:07
the episode and here’s what’s going on
1:09
this week in surgery centers
1:13
thank you
1:15
as always it has been a busy week in
1:17
healthcare so let’s jump right into the
1:20
top 10 stories that are shaping the ASC
1:22
industry right now
1:24
on June 5th Fortune 500 released its
1:27
annual report ranking the largest
1:29
corporations in the United States by
1:31
Revenue based on 2022 numbers so here’s
1:34
a quick rundown of the top 10 health
1:36
care companies in order starting with
1:39
the largest and then I added in two
1:41
additional call outs at the end for some
1:43
familiar faces so the top 10 are the
1:46
United Health Group with 324 billion
1:49
dollars then we have CVS Health McKesson
1:53
Amerisource Bergen
1:56
Cardinal Health Cigna elevance Health
1:59
centene Pfizer and Johnson Johnson
2:02
rounds us out at the top ten
2:05
HCA Healthcare took the 12th spot with
2:09
60.23 billion dollars and tenant Health
2:13
Care took the 24th spot with 19.17
2:16
billion dollars now remember those
2:19
because I will be referencing them in
2:21
some of the later news stories so I
2:23
always find lists like this interesting
2:25
because it tells us who the big players
2:27
are and some companies to keep an eye on
2:32
on Tuesday New York became the 35th
2:36
state to extend health care coverage
2:38
after pregnancy allowing up to 26 000
2:41
additional New Yorkers to be eligible to
2:44
receive Medicaid and children’s health
2:46
insurance program benefits for a full
2:49
year following pregnancy previously
2:52
people were guaranteed only 60 days of
2:54
coverage postpartum but now it will be
2:57
12 months and for context Medicaid
2:59
currently covers more than 40 percent of
3:02
births Nationwide and if this was rolled
3:05
out to every state as many as 720 000
3:08
Americans would be covered
3:10
so why is this important pregnancy
3:13
related deaths have increased in the U.S
3:16
in recent years with
3:18
1205 women in 2021 unfortunately passing
3:22
away of maternal causes and that was up
3:25
from 861 in 2020 and then between 2017
3:30
and 2019 30 of those deaths actually
3:34
occurred when coverage would have lapsed
3:36
for Medicaid enrollees so this is a
3:39
significant milestone for improving
3:41
maternal Health outcomes and ensuring
3:43
the safety of mothers and their children
3:45
under the age of one and I share this
3:47
story because while I think this is
3:49
wonderful and truly saves lives the
3:52
United States is on track to be spending
3:54
more than seven trillion dollars on
3:56
Health Care by 2031. so again I think
3:59
this is a wonderful program and a much
4:02
needed extension but looking at the
4:05
country’s overall spend it’s
4:07
significant to say the least
4:10
in our third story ASCS are investing in
4:14
clinical technology are seeing increased
4:16
patient satisfaction scores and patient
4:18
safety rates according to Patricia
4:21
McKenna the administrator at Cataract
4:23
and Laser Center West in West
4:26
Springfield Massachusetts
4:28
she says these Solutions Empower our
4:30
staff to provide our patients with the
4:33
safest best surgical experience possible
4:36
we talk about it every week technology
4:38
needs to be at the core of your daily
4:40
workflows in order to achieve the best
4:43
possible results all around at your
4:45
surgery center this article does a
4:47
wonderful job of laying out specific
4:50
clinical technologies that can help
4:52
improve patient safety and here’s just a
4:54
few that the article shared
4:56
the first is supplemental disinfection
4:59
so things like electrostatic sprayers
5:01
and UV lights can help kill pathogens
5:04
and decrease surgical site infections
5:06
when used in procedural and operating
5:09
rooms now there were some gotchas with
5:12
the UV lights so definitely check out
5:13
the article to see what the people using
5:16
them have shared
5:17
and we’ll of course include all of the
5:20
links in the episode show notes as well
5:22
the second is HVAC monitoring systems
5:25
they can automatically check the
5:27
temperature and humidity levels in
5:29
operating rooms in sterile storage rooms
5:31
and send alerts via email or an app if
5:34
they dip to certain levels so you don’t
5:36
have to manually document those data
5:38
these data points once a day and be
5:40
manually checking the temperature and
5:42
humidity
5:43
and then same for refrigerator
5:44
monitoring systems if the temp of your
5:47
fridge leaves a safe range you can
5:49
receive an email notification which
5:51
obviously will help you avoid using any
5:54
meds that might have their safety
5:55
compromise and also just get ahead of
5:57
any outages or broken equipment things
6:00
like that
6:01
other examples they shared vein finders
6:04
barcode scanners customizable emergency
6:06
call systems pulse oximeters robots and
6:10
so much more
6:12
I also would love to hear your thoughts
6:14
and experiences on different technology
6:16
that has helped you improve patient
6:18
safety satisfaction or really improve at
6:20
all so if you head over to hst’s
6:23
LinkedIn page please leave a comment on
6:25
this video so we can learn about what
6:28
you’re doing
6:30
all right story four you already know
6:33
the five major ASC chains we have uspi
6:37
sca HCA surgery partners and Value
6:40
Health but sometimes it’s hard to know
6:43
what their plans are and where they’re
6:45
headed next so luckily Becker’s ASC
6:48
summed it up nicely for us
6:51
starting with uspi who’s owned by tenant
6:53
Healthcare and who is also 24th on the
6:56
Forbes list I previously mentioned
6:58
they plan to commit 250 million dollars
7:02
into ASE mergers and Acquisitions and
7:05
plan to have more than 600 ASCS by 2025.
7:09
for contacts they’re at 445 right now
7:13
the next is SCA who is owned by Optum
7:16
they plan to take a different route they
7:19
plan to focus on Physician Group
7:21
acquisition and continue their reign as
7:23
the largest employer of physicians in
7:25
the country they currently own 320 ASCS
7:29
and employ 70 000 Physicians
7:32
the third is HCA they have 150 ASCS and
7:37
plan to double down on developing
7:39
outpatient facilities and increasing
7:41
outpatient procedure migration
7:45
the fourth is surgery Partners now they
7:48
spent almost 250 million dollars on ASC
7:52
Acquisitions in 2022 and actually
7:55
started 2023 off with 820 million
7:58
dollars in liquidity and they plan to
8:00
focus on high Acuity orthopedic and
8:03
Cardiology procedures
8:05
and last but certainly not least is
8:08
Value Health they currently have about
8:11
50 ASCS and they plan to capitalize on
8:13
cardiology’s migration to outpatient
8:16
settings as well as continuing to lean
8:18
into value-based care models
8:20
the last number I saw was a few months
8:23
back maybe longer so this could have
8:25
changed but it said something like 70
8:27
percent of surgery centers in the
8:29
country remained independent so it will
8:32
certainly be interesting in the next
8:33
year or two with all of these aggressive
8:35
acquisition plans to see how that
8:37
percentage changes the next story is a
8:40
very quick one but I always find this
8:42
data really interesting if you can’t
8:43
tell I love lists so here are the five
8:46
highest paying physician Specialties
8:49
from 2022. the number one is plastic
8:53
surgery
8:55
number two is orthopedics
8:57
number three is Cardiology
9:00
number four is ENT and number five is
9:04
Urology
9:05
and actually if we go back to 2018
9:08
number one two and three remain the same
9:11
plastic Ortho and Cardiology but number
9:14
four was gastroenterology and number
9:17
five was Radiology
9:19
so I guess if you’re wondering where the
9:21
money is this should give you a pretty
9:23
good idea plastic was either number one
9:25
or number two for the last five years
9:27
and is projected to remain on top in the
9:30
coming years as well so those are the
9:33
five highest paying physician
9:34
Specialties in the last couple years all
9:37
right Switching gears to patients so
9:40
building a strong relationship with
9:42
patients is undeniably important the
9:45
stronger the relationship the more
9:47
likely the patient is going to be
9:48
invested in their own health care
9:50
Journey more likely to trust you pay
9:52
their bills show up to procedures follow
9:55
post-op instructions and so on
9:58
this article was written by Veronica
10:00
pennoyer from HSC Pathways and she’s
10:03
sharing three ways that ACS can improve
10:05
their patient relationship and 2023 and
10:08
Beyond
10:09
the first is to provide personable
10:11
communication at some point in your life
10:14
you either have been or will be on the
10:16
patient side of things being personable
10:19
and relatable improves the trust in your
10:21
relationship with your patients and
10:23
encourages your patient to be truthful
10:25
when discussing their health history
10:27
which we know can be an issue sometimes
10:29
especially if they feel they’re going to
10:32
be judged or they’re going to be
10:33
embarrassed sometimes they’ll leave
10:35
stuff out but we all know by leaving
10:37
stuff out it can cause serious harm to
10:40
them serious implications being
10:41
personable and relating to them is key
10:44
the second is to embrace new
10:47
communication channels so mail email
10:49
phone calls they have been useful in the
10:53
past and definitely more traditional
10:55
path of communication but you absolutely
10:58
need to lean into patient texting or at
11:01
the very least you may find it
11:03
beneficial to ask your patient how do
11:05
you prefer to be contacted that’s
11:07
putting the ball in their core and also
11:09
showing them that you care about how
11:12
they prefer to be contacted and how they
11:14
prefer to be engaged with and giving
11:16
them options is obviously the best way
11:17
to ensure engagement and build that
11:19
relationship and improve the odds
11:21
they’re going to respond
11:23
and lastly be transparent and remain
11:26
open honest and helpful so patients want
11:28
to know as much as possible as early as
11:30
possible what is my financial
11:32
responsibility can I eat before my
11:34
procedure what preparations do I need to
11:36
make do I need a ride home what is
11:38
post-op going to look like so those
11:41
three things personal communication
11:43
embracing different means of
11:44
communication and being transparent will
11:47
help you connect with your patients
11:49
which will be crucial to your continued
11:51
success they’re going to recommend their
11:53
family members to you their friends if
11:55
they overhear their local colleagues
11:57
talking about needing a procedure done
11:59
they want to share your surgery Center’s
12:02
information with them so give them a
12:04
reason too and by building that strong
12:06
relationship with them they absolutely
12:08
will
12:09
all right going back to the idea of
12:13
mergers Acquisitions Partnerships things
12:16
like that
12:17
as ASE management companies Health
12:20
Systems private Equity firms Etc are
12:22
working on robust and aggressive ASE
12:25
expansion strategies the demand for AC
12:29
Acquisitions is only going to grow
12:31
we are constantly seeing new stories
12:34
about ASCS that are selling for 3.7
12:37
million 5.5 million and more we actually
12:40
just did a whole episode on strategic
12:42
partnership so I recommend checking that
12:44
out if you’re interested in learning
12:46
more about your options but for this
12:48
story Becker’s ASC is sharing three
12:51
steps to improve your asc’s valuation as
12:54
shared by ECG management Consultants
12:58
so I should say the article is extensive
13:02
and again if you’re interested in this
13:04
world or if you’re interested in selling
13:06
or just checking out your options please
13:08
go to episode notes find the link read
13:11
this full article I’m going to do a very
13:12
high level summary but there’s so much
13:14
good information in here
13:17
so the first is to optimize your managed
13:19
care plan this will drop top line
13:21
revenue your profit margins and an
13:24
increase Enterprise Value
13:26
the second it’s kind of a no-brainer but
13:29
improve financial performance especially
13:31
with an efficient business office so
13:34
you’ll want to make sure you’re tracking
13:36
against all of your financial goals a
13:38
few examples being days and accounts
13:40
receivable they are over 90 days bad
13:43
debt outstanding denial rates you’re
13:45
gonna have to show all of these numbers
13:47
you kind of to show Improvement and
13:49
going back to transparency you’re
13:51
absolutely going to have to show
13:52
everything that you can about your
13:55
financial performance
13:56
and then lastly understand key
13:59
transaction considerations questions
14:01
like is your buyer in this for the long
14:04
haul or are they just looking for a
14:05
quick flip do you understand the fair
14:08
market value do you have stable
14:10
efficient performance over at least 12
14:12
to 24 months those are the things that
14:14
you need to ask yourselves ask your
14:17
partner and make sure that your goals
14:20
aligned so whatever you’re looking to
14:21
get out of selling or being acquired or
14:24
finding a partner whatever it might be
14:26
you need to make sure the person that
14:28
you’re selling to have the exact same
14:31
end goals that you do so again so much
14:34
of these stories has to do with mergers
14:36
Acquisitions Trends you know going back
14:39
to the five major ASC chains and what
14:42
their intentions are if you want to sell
14:45
understanding how to improve your
14:47
valuation will be key because it looks
14:49
like they have the budget to buy so if
14:51
you’re in the market to sell it might be
14:53
a really good time to lean in
14:56
in our eighth story The American Medical
14:59
association’s annual meeting took place
15:02
last week in Chicago here are three of
15:05
the highlights that will impact the
15:06
future of Health Care
15:08
so you know we couldn’t go an entire
15:11
episode without talking about AI but
15:14
first the AMA did provide
15:15
recommendations for right now on what
15:18
ai’s role in healthcare could be so they
15:21
actually used the term augmented
15:22
intelligence not artificial intelligence
15:25
with an attempt to emphasize the
15:27
Technology’s ability to enhance human
15:29
capabilities rather than replace them
15:32
they shared that AI has the potential to
15:35
reduce administrative burdens on
15:37
Physicians and help them save time on
15:39
documentation however as we know
15:41
concerns have been raised about issues
15:43
like bias and of course inaccuracy
15:46
they also advocated for greater
15:49
regulatory oversight of insurers use of
15:52
AI and the prior authorization process
15:55
we’ve talked about prior auth a bunch
15:57
and how limiting it can be how
16:00
frustrating it could be is it necessary
16:02
to what extent so they’re emphasizing
16:05
the need for clinical criteria and
16:07
involvement of healthcare Professionals
16:09
in decision making the future Direction
16:11
and Regulatory framework for AI in
16:13
Medicine of course remains uncertain but
16:16
in turn if you think about it from an
16:18
administrative perspective it absolutely
16:20
has benefits
16:22
the second thing that came out of the
16:24
conference that they wanted to share was
16:26
about substance use and overdose
16:28
prevention the AMA shared that they are
16:30
adopting a number of policies on
16:32
treating substance use disorder and
16:34
preventing overdoses including
16:36
encouraging States and local governments
16:38
to make opioid overdose reversal
16:41
medications available in schools
16:44
in addition as more researchers examine
16:47
using psychedelic drugs to treat
16:49
conditions like severe depression the
16:51
AMA adopted a policy to Advocate against
16:54
using psilocybin to treat disorders
16:57
unless they’ve been approved by the FDA
17:00
or used in clinical studies Oregon has
17:03
been really Progressive in this realm so
17:06
if you’re interested in learning more I
17:08
would check out what Oregon has been up
17:09
to
17:11
and then third two policy changes that
17:14
would impact the workforce so the AMA
17:17
opposed Legacy preferences in medical
17:20
school admissions and adopted changes to
17:23
note the importance of diversity equity
17:25
and inclusion initiatives and training
17:27
for health care workers last two
17:30
episodes ago we did was that last
17:32
episode
17:33
very recently we did the ask a 2023
17:36
recap episode and there were similar
17:38
Trends in terms of the diversity Equity
17:40
inclusion and building a diverse culture
17:43
at your facility
17:45
another policy aimed at the physician
17:47
Workforce included opposing non-compete
17:49
contracts as earlier this year the Biden
17:52
Administration proposed a rule that
17:54
would ban non-compete causes and
17:56
employment contracts freeing up
17:58
Physicians to work for a competitor
18:00
which I mean given all the staffing
18:03
issues that we’re experiencing right now
18:05
seems like we’re heading in the right
18:07
direction there
18:09
so there’s a ton that came out of this
18:11
conference last week those were just
18:13
three highlights to recap the ai’s role
18:16
in healthcare substance use and overdose
18:18
prevention and then trying to enact
18:20
policy changes that would positively
18:22
impact the workforce
18:24
all right home stretch we are in our
18:26
ninth story cyber security attacks are
18:29
only going to increase so cyber security
18:32
measures must increase in tandem to
18:36
start us off I just want to give a few
18:38
numbers to set the scene
18:39
in 2022 the average cost of a data
18:43
breach was 4.35 million dollars which
18:47
was actually a 2.6 percent increase from
18:49
2021.
18:51
in 2022 the healthcare industry reported
18:54
849 business impacting security
18:57
incidents
18:59
571 resulting in data disclosure and 86
19:03
percent of organizations often deal with
19:05
more than one data breach and by the end
19:08
of 2023 it is projected that the total
19:11
Global cost of cyber crime will reach 8
19:14
trillion dollars
19:16
so in this article written by Richard
19:18
Lang HST Pathways information security
19:21
officer a cyber security breach is often
19:24
the hidden ASC operating expense so you
19:28
might look at The Upfront costs of
19:30
having really strict cyber security
19:33
software and measures at your surgery
19:35
center it may be hesitant but here are
19:38
some of the costs you may not be
19:40
considering if you do experience a data
19:42
breach that might change your opinion
19:44
about that upfront cost
19:46
so third party incident response fees
19:48
range from thirty thousand to a hundred
19:50
and fifty thousand dollars
19:52
you will experience lost revenue from
19:54
system downtime canceled and rescheduled
19:57
surgeries
19:59
we will likely have to pay identity
20:00
theft to monitoring costs for impacting
20:03
patients
20:04
you’ll need to rebuild and restore
20:06
damaged systems you’ll incur legal fees
20:09
with an increased insurance premiums and
20:12
then of course you’ll lose patients who
20:14
choose to take their business to one of
20:15
your competitors because
20:18
the media the news loves this type of
20:21
stuff unfortunately if you actually go
20:23
to Becker’s ASC and look at their most
20:25
read articles it’s always the cyber
20:28
security breaches the doctors being sued
20:30
fortunately there’s an element of that
20:32
that is just human nature but if you do
20:35
suffer a breach your community will find
20:37
out about it which obviously will impact
20:39
your reputation and therefore your case
20:41
volume so the trend here is
20:44
unfortunately cyber security attacks are
20:47
increasing but the good news is that as
20:50
they increase our measures can increase
20:52
as well to keep ourselves and your
20:54
patients protected
20:57
and to end our new segment on a positive
21:00
note a woman from North Carolina became
21:03
a mom and a doctor in the span of 24
21:06
hours on May 3rd Abby bailiff gave birth
21:09
to her first child Bodhi and on May 4th
21:13
just the next day she graduated from UNC
21:16
Greensboro School of Nursing with her
21:18
doctorate degree
21:19
so she was due a week before graduation
21:23
obviously started to get nervous when
21:25
that day came and went so on May 2nd her
21:28
doctors decided to induce her she had a
21:30
safe delivery and was released from the
21:32
hospital the afternoon of her graduation
21:35
and after going back and forth on
21:38
whether or not to attend the ceremony
21:39
bailiff decided she couldn’t miss it so
21:42
her husband in Bodhi cheered her on from
21:44
home watching via FaceTime so a huge
21:48
congratulations to you Dr bailiff on
21:50
your graduation and new motherhood
21:53
and that news story officially wraps up
21:56
this week’s podcast thank you as always
21:58
for spending a few minutes of your week
22:00
with us make sure to subscribe or leave
22:03
a review on whichever platform you’re
22:05
listening from I hope you have a great
22:07
day and we will see you again next week
22:17
[Music]
welcome to this week in surgery centers
0:03
if you’re in the ASC industry then
0:05
you’re in the right place every week
0:08
we’ll start the episode off by sharing
0:10
an interesting conversation we had with
0:11
our featured guest and then we’ll close
0:13
the episode by recapping the latest news
0:15
impacting surgery centers we’re excited
0:18
to share with you what we have so let’s
0:20
get started and see what the industry’s
0:22
been up to
0:23
[Music]
0:27
hi everyone here’s what you can expect
0:29
on today’s episode we’re going to do
0:32
things a little bit differently today
0:34
than we usually do instead of having our
0:36
guest segment and then ending with the
0:38
news recap we’re going to spend our time
0:40
going through 10 news stories that are
0:42
shaping the ASC industry we’ll cover
0:45
mergers and Acquisitions Medicaid
0:47
clinical technology where five major ASC
0:50
chains are focusing their efforts this
0:52
year the country’s spending projections
0:55
cyber security and more and we’ll bounce
0:58
between industry Trends clinical Trends
1:00
articles that look back at 2023 and
1:03
articles that look ahead to the second
1:04
half of the Year hope everyone enjoys
1:07
the episode and here’s what’s going on
1:09
this week in surgery centers
1:13
thank you
1:15
as always it has been a busy week in
1:17
healthcare so let’s jump right into the
1:20
top 10 stories that are shaping the ASC
1:22
industry right now
1:24
on June 5th Fortune 500 released its
1:27
annual report ranking the largest
1:29
corporations in the United States by
1:31
Revenue based on 2022 numbers so here’s
1:34
a quick rundown of the top 10 health
1:36
care companies in order starting with
1:39
the largest and then I added in two
1:41
additional call outs at the end for some
1:43
familiar faces so the top 10 are the
1:46
United Health Group with 324 billion
1:49
dollars then we have CVS Health McKesson
1:53
Amerisource Bergen
1:56
Cardinal Health Cigna elevance Health
1:59
centene Pfizer and Johnson Johnson
2:02
rounds us out at the top ten
2:05
HCA Healthcare took the 12th spot with
2:09
60.23 billion dollars and tenant Health
2:13
Care took the 24th spot with 19.17
2:16
billion dollars now remember those
2:19
because I will be referencing them in
2:21
some of the later news stories so I
2:23
always find lists like this interesting
2:25
because it tells us who the big players
2:27
are and some companies to keep an eye on
2:32
on Tuesday New York became the 35th
2:36
state to extend health care coverage
2:38
after pregnancy allowing up to 26 000
2:41
additional New Yorkers to be eligible to
2:44
receive Medicaid and children’s health
2:46
insurance program benefits for a full
2:49
year following pregnancy previously
2:52
people were guaranteed only 60 days of
2:54
coverage postpartum but now it will be
2:57
12 months and for context Medicaid
2:59
currently covers more than 40 percent of
3:02
births Nationwide and if this was rolled
3:05
out to every state as many as 720 000
3:08
Americans would be covered
3:10
so why is this important pregnancy
3:13
related deaths have increased in the U.S
3:16
in recent years with
3:18
1205 women in 2021 unfortunately passing
3:22
away of maternal causes and that was up
3:25
from 861 in 2020 and then between 2017
3:30
and 2019 30 of those deaths actually
3:34
occurred when coverage would have lapsed
3:36
for Medicaid enrollees so this is a
3:39
significant milestone for improving
3:41
maternal Health outcomes and ensuring
3:43
the safety of mothers and their children
3:45
under the age of one and I share this
3:47
story because while I think this is
3:49
wonderful and truly saves lives the
3:52
United States is on track to be spending
3:54
more than seven trillion dollars on
3:56
Health Care by 2031. so again I think
3:59
this is a wonderful program and a much
4:02
needed extension but looking at the
4:05
country’s overall spend it’s
4:07
significant to say the least
4:10
in our third story ASCS are investing in
4:14
clinical technology are seeing increased
4:16
patient satisfaction scores and patient
4:18
safety rates according to Patricia
4:21
McKenna the administrator at Cataract
4:23
and Laser Center West in West
4:26
Springfield Massachusetts
4:28
she says these Solutions Empower our
4:30
staff to provide our patients with the
4:33
safest best surgical experience possible
4:36
we talk about it every week technology
4:38
needs to be at the core of your daily
4:40
workflows in order to achieve the best
4:43
possible results all around at your
4:45
surgery center this article does a
4:47
wonderful job of laying out specific
4:50
clinical technologies that can help
4:52
improve patient safety and here’s just a
4:54
few that the article shared
4:56
the first is supplemental disinfection
4:59
so things like electrostatic sprayers
5:01
and UV lights can help kill pathogens
5:04
and decrease surgical site infections
5:06
when used in procedural and operating
5:09
rooms now there were some gotchas with
5:12
the UV lights so definitely check out
5:13
the article to see what the people using
5:16
them have shared
5:17
and we’ll of course include all of the
5:20
links in the episode show notes as well
5:22
the second is HVAC monitoring systems
5:25
they can automatically check the
5:27
temperature and humidity levels in
5:29
operating rooms in sterile storage rooms
5:31
and send alerts via email or an app if
5:34
they dip to certain levels so you don’t
5:36
have to manually document those data
5:38
these data points once a day and be
5:40
manually checking the temperature and
5:42
humidity
5:43
and then same for refrigerator
5:44
monitoring systems if the temp of your
5:47
fridge leaves a safe range you can
5:49
receive an email notification which
5:51
obviously will help you avoid using any
5:54
meds that might have their safety
5:55
compromise and also just get ahead of
5:57
any outages or broken equipment things
6:00
like that
6:01
other examples they shared vein finders
6:04
barcode scanners customizable emergency
6:06
call systems pulse oximeters robots and
6:10
so much more
6:12
I also would love to hear your thoughts
6:14
and experiences on different technology
6:16
that has helped you improve patient
6:18
safety satisfaction or really improve at
6:20
all so if you head over to hst’s
6:23
LinkedIn page please leave a comment on
6:25
this video so we can learn about what
6:28
you’re doing
6:30
all right story four you already know
6:33
the five major ASC chains we have uspi
6:37
sca HCA surgery partners and Value
6:40
Health but sometimes it’s hard to know
6:43
what their plans are and where they’re
6:45
headed next so luckily Becker’s ASC
6:48
summed it up nicely for us
6:51
starting with uspi who’s owned by tenant
6:53
Healthcare and who is also 24th on the
6:56
Forbes list I previously mentioned
6:58
they plan to commit 250 million dollars
7:02
into ASE mergers and Acquisitions and
7:05
plan to have more than 600 ASCS by 2025.
7:09
for contacts they’re at 445 right now
7:13
the next is SCA who is owned by Optum
7:16
they plan to take a different route they
7:19
plan to focus on Physician Group
7:21
acquisition and continue their reign as
7:23
the largest employer of physicians in
7:25
the country they currently own 320 ASCS
7:29
and employ 70 000 Physicians
7:32
the third is HCA they have 150 ASCS and
7:37
plan to double down on developing
7:39
outpatient facilities and increasing
7:41
outpatient procedure migration
7:45
the fourth is surgery Partners now they
7:48
spent almost 250 million dollars on ASC
7:52
Acquisitions in 2022 and actually
7:55
started 2023 off with 820 million
7:58
dollars in liquidity and they plan to
8:00
focus on high Acuity orthopedic and
8:03
Cardiology procedures
8:05
and last but certainly not least is
8:08
Value Health they currently have about
8:11
50 ASCS and they plan to capitalize on
8:13
cardiology’s migration to outpatient
8:16
settings as well as continuing to lean
8:18
into value-based care models
8:20
the last number I saw was a few months
8:23
back maybe longer so this could have
8:25
changed but it said something like 70
8:27
percent of surgery centers in the
8:29
country remained independent so it will
8:32
certainly be interesting in the next
8:33
year or two with all of these aggressive
8:35
acquisition plans to see how that
8:37
percentage changes the next story is a
8:40
very quick one but I always find this
8:42
data really interesting if you can’t
8:43
tell I love lists so here are the five
8:46
highest paying physician Specialties
8:49
from 2022. the number one is plastic
8:53
surgery
8:55
number two is orthopedics
8:57
number three is Cardiology
9:00
number four is ENT and number five is
9:04
Urology
9:05
and actually if we go back to 2018
9:08
number one two and three remain the same
9:11
plastic Ortho and Cardiology but number
9:14
four was gastroenterology and number
9:17
five was Radiology
9:19
so I guess if you’re wondering where the
9:21
money is this should give you a pretty
9:23
good idea plastic was either number one
9:25
or number two for the last five years
9:27
and is projected to remain on top in the
9:30
coming years as well so those are the
9:33
five highest paying physician
9:34
Specialties in the last couple years all
9:37
right Switching gears to patients so
9:40
building a strong relationship with
9:42
patients is undeniably important the
9:45
stronger the relationship the more
9:47
likely the patient is going to be
9:48
invested in their own health care
9:50
Journey more likely to trust you pay
9:52
their bills show up to procedures follow
9:55
post-op instructions and so on
9:58
this article was written by Veronica
10:00
pennoyer from HSC Pathways and she’s
10:03
sharing three ways that ACS can improve
10:05
their patient relationship and 2023 and
10:08
Beyond
10:09
the first is to provide personable
10:11
communication at some point in your life
10:14
you either have been or will be on the
10:16
patient side of things being personable
10:19
and relatable improves the trust in your
10:21
relationship with your patients and
10:23
encourages your patient to be truthful
10:25
when discussing their health history
10:27
which we know can be an issue sometimes
10:29
especially if they feel they’re going to
10:32
be judged or they’re going to be
10:33
embarrassed sometimes they’ll leave
10:35
stuff out but we all know by leaving
10:37
stuff out it can cause serious harm to
10:40
them serious implications being
10:41
personable and relating to them is key
10:44
the second is to embrace new
10:47
communication channels so mail email
10:49
phone calls they have been useful in the
10:53
past and definitely more traditional
10:55
path of communication but you absolutely
10:58
need to lean into patient texting or at
11:01
the very least you may find it
11:03
beneficial to ask your patient how do
11:05
you prefer to be contacted that’s
11:07
putting the ball in their core and also
11:09
showing them that you care about how
11:12
they prefer to be contacted and how they
11:14
prefer to be engaged with and giving
11:16
them options is obviously the best way
11:17
to ensure engagement and build that
11:19
relationship and improve the odds
11:21
they’re going to respond
11:23
and lastly be transparent and remain
11:26
open honest and helpful so patients want
11:28
to know as much as possible as early as
11:30
possible what is my financial
11:32
responsibility can I eat before my
11:34
procedure what preparations do I need to
11:36
make do I need a ride home what is
11:38
post-op going to look like so those
11:41
three things personal communication
11:43
embracing different means of
11:44
communication and being transparent will
11:47
help you connect with your patients
11:49
which will be crucial to your continued
11:51
success they’re going to recommend their
11:53
family members to you their friends if
11:55
they overhear their local colleagues
11:57
talking about needing a procedure done
11:59
they want to share your surgery Center’s
12:02
information with them so give them a
12:04
reason too and by building that strong
12:06
relationship with them they absolutely
12:08
will
12:09
all right going back to the idea of
12:13
mergers Acquisitions Partnerships things
12:16
like that
12:17
as ASE management companies Health
12:20
Systems private Equity firms Etc are
12:22
working on robust and aggressive ASE
12:25
expansion strategies the demand for AC
12:29
Acquisitions is only going to grow
12:31
we are constantly seeing new stories
12:34
about ASCS that are selling for 3.7
12:37
million 5.5 million and more we actually
12:40
just did a whole episode on strategic
12:42
partnership so I recommend checking that
12:44
out if you’re interested in learning
12:46
more about your options but for this
12:48
story Becker’s ASC is sharing three
12:51
steps to improve your asc’s valuation as
12:54
shared by ECG management Consultants
12:58
so I should say the article is extensive
13:02
and again if you’re interested in this
13:04
world or if you’re interested in selling
13:06
or just checking out your options please
13:08
go to episode notes find the link read
13:11
this full article I’m going to do a very
13:12
high level summary but there’s so much
13:14
good information in here
13:17
so the first is to optimize your managed
13:19
care plan this will drop top line
13:21
revenue your profit margins and an
13:24
increase Enterprise Value
13:26
the second it’s kind of a no-brainer but
13:29
improve financial performance especially
13:31
with an efficient business office so
13:34
you’ll want to make sure you’re tracking
13:36
against all of your financial goals a
13:38
few examples being days and accounts
13:40
receivable they are over 90 days bad
13:43
debt outstanding denial rates you’re
13:45
gonna have to show all of these numbers
13:47
you kind of to show Improvement and
13:49
going back to transparency you’re
13:51
absolutely going to have to show
13:52
everything that you can about your
13:55
financial performance
13:56
and then lastly understand key
13:59
transaction considerations questions
14:01
like is your buyer in this for the long
14:04
haul or are they just looking for a
14:05
quick flip do you understand the fair
14:08
market value do you have stable
14:10
efficient performance over at least 12
14:12
to 24 months those are the things that
14:14
you need to ask yourselves ask your
14:17
partner and make sure that your goals
14:20
aligned so whatever you’re looking to
14:21
get out of selling or being acquired or
14:24
finding a partner whatever it might be
14:26
you need to make sure the person that
14:28
you’re selling to have the exact same
14:31
end goals that you do so again so much
14:34
of these stories has to do with mergers
14:36
Acquisitions Trends you know going back
14:39
to the five major ASC chains and what
14:42
their intentions are if you want to sell
14:45
understanding how to improve your
14:47
valuation will be key because it looks
14:49
like they have the budget to buy so if
14:51
you’re in the market to sell it might be
14:53
a really good time to lean in
14:56
in our eighth story The American Medical
14:59
association’s annual meeting took place
15:02
last week in Chicago here are three of
15:05
the highlights that will impact the
15:06
future of Health Care
15:08
so you know we couldn’t go an entire
15:11
episode without talking about AI but
15:14
first the AMA did provide
15:15
recommendations for right now on what
15:18
ai’s role in healthcare could be so they
15:21
actually used the term augmented
15:22
intelligence not artificial intelligence
15:25
with an attempt to emphasize the
15:27
Technology’s ability to enhance human
15:29
capabilities rather than replace them
15:32
they shared that AI has the potential to
15:35
reduce administrative burdens on
15:37
Physicians and help them save time on
15:39
documentation however as we know
15:41
concerns have been raised about issues
15:43
like bias and of course inaccuracy
15:46
they also advocated for greater
15:49
regulatory oversight of insurers use of
15:52
AI and the prior authorization process
15:55
we’ve talked about prior auth a bunch
15:57
and how limiting it can be how
16:00
frustrating it could be is it necessary
16:02
to what extent so they’re emphasizing
16:05
the need for clinical criteria and
16:07
involvement of healthcare Professionals
16:09
in decision making the future Direction
16:11
and Regulatory framework for AI in
16:13
Medicine of course remains uncertain but
16:16
in turn if you think about it from an
16:18
administrative perspective it absolutely
16:20
has benefits
16:22
the second thing that came out of the
16:24
conference that they wanted to share was
16:26
about substance use and overdose
16:28
prevention the AMA shared that they are
16:30
adopting a number of policies on
16:32
treating substance use disorder and
16:34
preventing overdoses including
16:36
encouraging States and local governments
16:38
to make opioid overdose reversal
16:41
medications available in schools
16:44
in addition as more researchers examine
16:47
using psychedelic drugs to treat
16:49
conditions like severe depression the
16:51
AMA adopted a policy to Advocate against
16:54
using psilocybin to treat disorders
16:57
unless they’ve been approved by the FDA
17:00
or used in clinical studies Oregon has
17:03
been really Progressive in this realm so
17:06
if you’re interested in learning more I
17:08
would check out what Oregon has been up
17:09
to
17:11
and then third two policy changes that
17:14
would impact the workforce so the AMA
17:17
opposed Legacy preferences in medical
17:20
school admissions and adopted changes to
17:23
note the importance of diversity equity
17:25
and inclusion initiatives and training
17:27
for health care workers last two
17:30
episodes ago we did was that last
17:32
episode
17:33
very recently we did the ask a 2023
17:36
recap episode and there were similar
17:38
Trends in terms of the diversity Equity
17:40
inclusion and building a diverse culture
17:43
at your facility
17:45
another policy aimed at the physician
17:47
Workforce included opposing non-compete
17:49
contracts as earlier this year the Biden
17:52
Administration proposed a rule that
17:54
would ban non-compete causes and
17:56
employment contracts freeing up
17:58
Physicians to work for a competitor
18:00
which I mean given all the staffing
18:03
issues that we’re experiencing right now
18:05
seems like we’re heading in the right
18:07
direction there
18:09
so there’s a ton that came out of this
18:11
conference last week those were just
18:13
three highlights to recap the ai’s role
18:16
in healthcare substance use and overdose
18:18
prevention and then trying to enact
18:20
policy changes that would positively
18:22
impact the workforce
18:24
all right home stretch we are in our
18:26
ninth story cyber security attacks are
18:29
only going to increase so cyber security
18:32
measures must increase in tandem to
18:36
start us off I just want to give a few
18:38
numbers to set the scene
18:39
in 2022 the average cost of a data
18:43
breach was 4.35 million dollars which
18:47
was actually a 2.6 percent increase from
18:49
2021.
18:51
in 2022 the healthcare industry reported
18:54
849 business impacting security
18:57
incidents
18:59
571 resulting in data disclosure and 86
19:03
percent of organizations often deal with
19:05
more than one data breach and by the end
19:08
of 2023 it is projected that the total
19:11
Global cost of cyber crime will reach 8
19:14
trillion dollars
19:16
so in this article written by Richard
19:18
Lang HST Pathways information security
19:21
officer a cyber security breach is often
19:24
the hidden ASC operating expense so you
19:28
might look at The Upfront costs of
19:30
having really strict cyber security
19:33
software and measures at your surgery
19:35
center it may be hesitant but here are
19:38
some of the costs you may not be
19:40
considering if you do experience a data
19:42
breach that might change your opinion
19:44
about that upfront cost
19:46
so third party incident response fees
19:48
range from thirty thousand to a hundred
19:50
and fifty thousand dollars
19:52
you will experience lost revenue from
19:54
system downtime canceled and rescheduled
19:57
surgeries
19:59
we will likely have to pay identity
20:00
theft to monitoring costs for impacting
20:03
patients
20:04
you’ll need to rebuild and restore
20:06
damaged systems you’ll incur legal fees
20:09
with an increased insurance premiums and
20:12
then of course you’ll lose patients who
20:14
choose to take their business to one of
20:15
your competitors because
20:18
the media the news loves this type of
20:21
stuff unfortunately if you actually go
20:23
to Becker’s ASC and look at their most
20:25
read articles it’s always the cyber
20:28
security breaches the doctors being sued
20:30
fortunately there’s an element of that
20:32
that is just human nature but if you do
20:35
suffer a breach your community will find
20:37
out about it which obviously will impact
20:39
your reputation and therefore your case
20:41
volume so the trend here is
20:44
unfortunately cyber security attacks are
20:47
increasing but the good news is that as
20:50
they increase our measures can increase
20:52
as well to keep ourselves and your
20:54
patients protected
20:57
and to end our new segment on a positive
21:00
note a woman from North Carolina became
21:03
a mom and a doctor in the span of 24
21:06
hours on May 3rd Abby bailiff gave birth
21:09
to her first child Bodhi and on May 4th
21:13
just the next day she graduated from UNC
21:16
Greensboro School of Nursing with her
21:18
doctorate degree
21:19
so she was due a week before graduation
21:23
obviously started to get nervous when
21:25
that day came and went so on May 2nd her
21:28
doctors decided to induce her she had a
21:30
safe delivery and was released from the
21:32
hospital the afternoon of her graduation
21:35
and after going back and forth on
21:38
whether or not to attend the ceremony
21:39
bailiff decided she couldn’t miss it so
21:42
her husband in Bodhi cheered her on from
21:44
home watching via FaceTime so a huge
21:48
congratulations to you Dr bailiff on
21:50
your graduation and new motherhood
21:53
and that news story officially wraps up
21:56
this week’s podcast thank you as always
21:58
for spending a few minutes of your week
22:00
with us make sure to subscribe or leave
22:03
a review on whichever platform you’re
22:05
listening from I hope you have a great
22:07
day and we will see you again next week
22:17
[Music]
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