At the 20th Annual Spine, Orthopedic + Pain Management-Driven ASC Conference, a highly anticipated session on Profitability in Orthopedics, Spine and Pain Management was held.
This session was moderated by Alan Condon, Editor in Chief of Becker's Healthcare and featured a panel of distinguished experts. The panelists included Ramy Elias, MD, an orthopedic surgeon from Center For Advanced Orthopedics & Sports Medicine, Nameer Haider, MD, a spine and skeletal pain medicine specialist from Minimally Invasive Spine Institute, and Konner Weddige, a business analyst from Covenant High Plains Surgery Center, LLC. The panelists discussed various strategies to optimize profitability in orthopedics, spine and pain management.
Key Takeaways:
1: To successfully migrate high acuity, highly reimbursed procedures to the ASC, a 24/7 phone number that patients can call with concerns, educating patients on what to expect pre & post-op, building a team of detail-oriented people, and tracking data to analyze frequently are key tips.
2: To manage costs and ensure profitability in a financially challenging environment, it's important to manage labor and implant costs, do pre-ops correctly, push higher acuity procedures with higher reimbursement, and use checking account money to increase cash on hand. Consolidation in the ASC space often does not lead to good outcomes for doctors.
3: When investing in a surgery center, it's important to understand who your partners are and be good stewards of money when distributing distributions from the surgery center. Downward pressure on payments from payers can be countered by focusing on drug and supply cost, fundamentals, and reliable data to help boost margins. Access and transparency can also help attract patients to the ASC.
4: Understanding costs associated with vendors and providers and having like-minded doctors who understand the financial success of the surgery center is important. Case costing and understanding the costs associated with procedures are important for business analysis. A good relationship with your GPO and vendors is essential, and it's possible to convince vendors to give you a free trial to see if it works in your ASC. Understanding managed Medicare is also important.