Advancing Surgical Care Podcast: Recent Episodes
Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA)
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with Todd Currier, ASCA Board treasurer and administrator of Bend Surgery Center in Bend, Oregon, about the importance of having ASC owners and physicians involved in ASCA’s federal ASC advocacy efforts. They also discuss ways every ASC could benefit from Currier’s model for owner engagement and participation. Today, 90 percent of the physicians practicing at Bend Surgery Center contribute to ASCAPAC, the only political action committee devoted exclusively to advancing the issues that matter most to ASCs of every specialty throughout the US.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with Will Evans, senior director of data science & insights at HST Pathways, following Evans’s presentation at ASCA 2024 in Orlando, Florida, earlier this year. Evans explains how even small, standalone surgery centers can capture and analyze data to improve their financial performance and patient outcomes. He also offers practical advice for sharing performance data with ASC personnel in nonthreatening and constructive ways.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with Debbie Mack, RN, CAIP, a leading infection prevention (IP) educator and consultant, following an IP session Mack presented at the ASCA 2024 Conference & Expo in Orlando, Florida.
Beginning with the ongoing training a surgery center’s infection preventionist should seek each year and the need to document that training, Mack and Prentice talk through a list of key elements a comprehensive IP program should include. They also discuss ways to make compliance easier and the workplace culture needed to support a holistic program. Their conversation ends with a discussion about the Certified Ambulatory Infection Preventionist (CAIP) credential, the credibility the credential confers on credential holders and the valuable ASC-specific IP study materials available on the CAIP website.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with attorney Sal Puccio during the ASCA 2024 Conference & Expo in Orlando, Florida, in April to discuss a range of human resources issues facing ASCs today. Puccio is widely regarded as an expert on ASC employment practices and his presentations at ASCA events are well-regarded by ASCA members. He is a partner in the law firm Garfunkel Wild and a member of the firm’s employment law, litigation and healthcare groups, among others. His practice focuses primarily on advising and counseling healthcare providers on their day-to-day business operations, with extensive experience in counseling clients concerning the employer-employee relationship, as well as complex commercial litigation matters.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with Dr. Paul Alcock, chief information security officer for Surgical Information Systems, where he leads the company’s enterprise cybersecurity program, including threat and incident management, security policy and governance. Their conversation took place at ASCA’s Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida, following Dr. Alcock’s presentation on cybersecurity in ASCs. With the advent of serious online threats to health care providers and their patients, Dr. Alcock’s timely counsel and advice should not be missed.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, hear Dr. Abbey Vandersall, vice president for Quality and Clinical Services for ASC management company AMSURG, talk with ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice about the life-saving importance of colonoscopy screenings for the early detection of colorectal cancer. Their discussion also focuses on compliance with the new recommendation for testing to begin at age 45 and the critical role surgery centers have played in expanding access to colonoscopies, as well as lowering their cost for both patients and payers alike.
In this episode of ASCA’s Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, listen to oral surgeon Dayne Jensen, MD, explain why he believes an ASC offers the safest, most convenient setting for his patients. Then, find out how he turned his vision into reality—even for Medicaid patients in his community. In conversation with ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice, Dr. Jensen talks about ways to facilitate patient referrals, the unexpected benefits his surgery center offers his community and his experience treating Medicaid beneficiaries.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with ASCA Regulatory Counsel and Director of Government Affairs Kara Newbury about the 2024 outpatient payment and quality reporting rule the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released on November 2, 2023. A highlight of the conversation is their discussion of ASCA’s successful efforts to add several dozen new codes to the ASC Covered Procedures List (ASC-CPL). These include total shoulder arthroplasty, a procedure ASCA has long encouraged Medicare to allow its beneficiaries to access in orthopedic surgery centers. Prentice and Newbury also discuss a payment update that rises above the amount projected in the proposed rule, prospective changes to the ASC Quality Reporting Program and more.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice and ASCA Director of Education & Clinical Affairs Gina Throneberry discuss the Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgery Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (OAS CAHPS) Survey, a postoperative patient survey developed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Beginning in January 2025, OAS CAHPS will become a mandatory part of Medicare’s Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality Reporting (ASCQR) Program, and ASCs will be required to use a CMS-approved, third-party vendor to administer the survey to their patients. In this short, but highly informative program, Prentice and Throneberry discuss the origins of the OAS CAHPS Survey, its content, threshold requirements and the importance of hiring a vendor and implementing the survey well in advance of January 2025.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with Deb Yoder, RN, CASC, vice president of clinical operations for Surgical Management Professionals, about the critical steps and considerations involved in constructing and opening a new ASC. Yoder is an accomplished nurse with frontline experience in operating rooms, cardiac catheterization labs, intensive care and surgery centers. In her current position, she is responsible for overseeing the design and construction of new ASCs and has assisted in developing and equipping 13 new facilities. This highly informative discussion covers architectural and regulatory pre- and post-planning, construction management and how to prepare a new facility for a successful opening.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with orthopedic surgeon and ASCA Board member David Weinstein, MD, about performing outpatient total shoulder surgeries in both hospitals and ASCs.
Tens of thousands of patients with commercial insurance undergo safe, effective total shoulder surgeries in ASCs each year, saving themselves and their insurers millions of dollars. Yet the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has refused to extend its insurance coverage to ASCs—the less costly site of care and the one that most patients prefer. Dr. Weinstein discusses several clinical studies that include findings that support making this change, as well as his own experience performing thousands of shoulder surgeries, in this compelling case for finally allowing Medicare patients the same choice that private pay patients enjoy today.
Dr. Weinstein is a graduate of the University of Colorado School of Medicine, where he completed his residency in orthopedic surgery, as well as an associate clinical professor at the University of Colorado Department of Orthopedics in Denver.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice speaks with SCA Health Vice President for Talent Management Vicki Heinz about the importance of creating a culture of inclusion among ASC staff. In a conversation recorded live following Heinz’s presentation on that same topic at ASCA 2023 in Louisville, Kentucky, this past spring, Prentice and Heinz discuss how a culture of inclusion has become a vital part of an organization’s ability to recruit and retain a talented workforce, particularly among younger workers. In explaining why employers should measure their progress and be prepared to overcome resistance to change, Heinz also describes how the right inclusion practices can improve an organization’s performance and add to its bottom line.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice and ASCA Regulatory Counsel and Director of Government Affairs Kara Newbury discuss the 2024 proposed ASC payment rule released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on July 13, 2023. Prentice and Newbury provide a topline summary of the 963-page proposal that looks at the proposed inflationary update factor for ASCs, changes to the ASC Covered Procedures List (ASC-CPL), changes to the Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality Reporting (ASCQR) Program and more. Comments on the proposed rule are due by September 11, 2023.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, Mandy Hawkins, CASC, CAIP, president of the ASCA Board, talks with Debra Stinchcomb, CASC, president of the Board of Ambulatory Surgery Certification (BASC), regarding the Certified Administrator Surgery Center (CASC) credential and the Certified Ambulatory Infection Preventionist (CAIP) credential for ASC administrators and senior staff. In this timely and important presentation, Mandy and Debra discuss upcoming enrollment periods for both certifications, the course curriculums, fees, renewals and how both certifications can benefit ASC personnel interested in advancing their careers in the ASC community.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with nimble solutions Chief Executive Officer Nader Samii during a break at ASCA’s annual conference in Louisville, Kentucky, this past May. Prentice invited Samii, whose company was the platinum sponsor of this year’s event, to join him in a discussion about the current market conditions he is seeing across the ASC community, as well as the increasing investment occurring in emerging technologies such as robotics. Prentice and Samii also talk about the rebranding of National Medical Billing Services to nimble solutions and the services the new company can provide to ASCs.
With the demand for outpatient surgery on the rise, forecasters are concerned about the future supply of physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals. In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Board President Mandy Hawkins talks with David Acosta, MD, the chief diversity and inclusion officer of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). Their wide-ranging conversation looks at the need for a larger, more representative healthcare workforce that can meet the demands of our nation’s aging and increasingly diverse population. It also addresses the makeup of current medical school admissions, the need to raise awareness about medical careers in primary and secondary schools, new initiatives that target disadvantaged communities and the need for additional government support for medical education and training.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, Kara Newbury, ASCA regulatory counsel and director of government affairs, leads a discussion about the Outpatient Surgery Quality and Access Act of 2023 (H.R. 972/S.312) with her colleagues David Opong-Wadee, ASCA manager of legislative and political affairs, and Maia Kunkel, ASCA manager of government affairs. The episode provides a summary of the key provisions of the legislation and the ways it would benefit both patients and ASCs. It also looks at the Washington, DC, fly-in and lobbying event conducted February 28 and March 1 this year as part of ASCA’s 2023 National Advocacy Day. Seventy ASCA members from 31 states met with members of Congress and their staff to discuss ASCA’s legislative goals and the many ways ASCs serve their constituents and communities.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice sits down with surgery center payment policy expert Naya Kehayes for an informative discussion about the migration of surgical codes from the inpatient-only list to the list of procedures Medicare will reimburse in hospital outpatient departments (HOPD) and onto the ASC Covered Procedures List (ASC-CPL). They discuss a wide range of topics, including recent migration trends, future code migration (including orthopedic and cardiovascular procedures) and ASCA’s continuing efforts to make the approval process at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services more transparent. Naya is a partner and the ASC Practice Leader for ECG Management Consultants and has more than 30 years of professional experience in healthcare. She is a trusted adviser to ASCA on a wide range of issues, particularly in matters before the federal agencies that oversee surgery centers, and a member of ASCA’s Government Affairs Committee.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with ASCA Board Member Lisa Austin, RN, CASC, about succession planning for ASCs. Austin, an ASC development and operations expert, is a member of the ASCA Board of Directors, a past president of the Colorado Ambulatory Surgery Center Association, a registered nurse and a CASC-certified administrator. This short, highly informative program offers valuable insights regarding the inevitable need to respond to leadership transitions in both facility management and physician partners. Austin’s strategies and advice apply equally to both independent ASCs and centers affiliated with a management company.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with HST Pathways Chief Innovation Officer Gavin Fabian about the challenges, and potential solutions, for surgery centers that perform procedures that require the use of medical devices or surgical implants. As ASCA continues its efforts to add additional codes to the outpatient procedure list and secure appropriate reimbursement for all procedures, including those involving medical devices and surgical implants, this discussion focuses on strategies surgery centers can employ to better manage the financial aspects of these types of procedures. HST Pathways is a leading provider of surgery center management and software solutions and an ASCA affiliate.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with ASCA Board President Mandy Hawkins about ASCA’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Initiative. The ASCA Board of Directors approved a resolution supporting this effort at the association’s 2022 annual conference in Dallas, Texas, and work has been underway for several months. Prentice and Hawkins discuss the three parts of ASCA’s DEI Initiative: the ASC workforce, patient populations and the cultural competence of the ASC community. They also describe the work being done by 12 ASCA volunteers and ASCA staff to develop recommendations for the ASCA Board and, ultimately, the entire ASCA membership for future DEI advocacy and continuing education.
ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with ASCA Regulatory Counsel and Director of Government Affairs Kara Newbury about key provisions of Medicare’s 2023 final ASC payment rule released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on November 1, 2022. The two discuss new complexity adjustments CMS adopted for ASCs, the inflation adjustment made to ASC reimbursement rates, changes to the ASC Covered Procedures List (ASC-CPL) and the status of ASC quality reporting measure ASC-11. They also talk about ASCA’s plans for responding to the new rule and tools ASCA will be offering its members to help them adapt to changes the 2023 rule contains.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, Bill Prentice, ASCA chief executive officer, and Alex Taira, ASCA regulatory policy and research manager, talk with Jigar Patel, MD, chief medical officer for the for-profit and emerging markets at Oracle Cerner. Their discussion focuses on electronic health records (EHR) in ASCs. Oracle Cerner is a leading supplier of health information technology products and services worldwide, including EHR systems, and an ASCA affiliate. Dr. Patel shares his experience with the use of informatics and technology across providers, their current EHR adoption efforts and the outlook for the application and use of technology in the ASC space.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice interviews Andrea Lessner, senior director of perioperative services at USPI’s OASIS Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. The two briefly discuss quality data and patient safety related to the use of robotic-assisted surgeries, then take a deeper dive into the business of robotic surgery in the ASC setting. Methods of evaluating robotic equipment, educating and training surgical teams and introducing and ramping up a robotics program in an ASC are addressed. The conversation takes place following Lessner’s presentation at the ASCA 2022 Conference & Expo in Dallas, Texas.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice and ASCA Regulatory Counsel and Director of Government Affairs Kara Newbury discuss the 2023 proposed ASC payment rule released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on July 15, 2022. Prentice and Newbury provide a topline summary of the 886-page proposal that looks at the proposed inflationary update factor for ASCs, changes to the process for adding additional codes to the ASC Covered Procedures List (ASC-CPL), changes to the Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality Reporting (ASCQR) Program and more. Comments on the proposed rule are due by September 13, 2022.
In this timely and informative episode of ASCA’s Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice and ASCA Regulatory Counsel and Director of Government Affairs Kara Newbury discuss the updates to the Interpretive Guidelines for ASCs the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released in June. In less than 20 minutes, Bill and Kara provide an overview of the updates and explain several key components, including revisions to the periodic written notice requirements for ASCs, informed consent requirements for ASC patients and the Infection Control Surveyor Worksheet.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with Michael Powers, administrator of Children’s West Surgery Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, about pediatric surgical care in the ASC setting. This highly informative discussion takes place in Dallas, Texas, following Powers’s presentation to attendees at ASCA 2022 and covers a wide range of clinical and operational issues. Topics Powers and Prentice consider include protocols for creating a child- and family-friendly clinical environment, the most common procedures performed for young children, strategies for successfully negotiating reimbursement rates and present and future trends in pediatric outpatient surgery.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with Michael Patterson, FACHE, president and chief executive officer of Mississippi Valley Health in Davenport, Iowa, and immediate past president of the ASCA Board. During their conversation, Prentice and Patterson discuss total joint replacement (TJR) procedures in ASCs today, projections for the future, the growing body of quality data for TJR procedures in ASCs, the acquisition and deployment of robotic devices in ASCs and the future potential for more inpatient-only procedures to migrate to the ASC setting.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with Mary Ryan, RN, BSN, MBA, CASC, CAIP, a senior consultant with Amblitel, about both the regulatory and practical considerations of preparing ASCs for emergency situations ranging from pandemics to natural disasters. This timely conversation took place at the ASCA 2022 Conference & Expo in Dallas, Texas, following a session about emergency preparedness Ryan presented there.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with Nader Samii, chief executive officer of National Medical Billing Services (NMBS). NMBS is a longtime ASCA affiliate with a national perspective on the operation and administration of ASCs. Prentice and Samii discuss a range of ASC issues, including lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, price transparency across healthcare settings and the ASCA 2022 Conference & Expo convening in person in Dallas, Texas, April 27–30.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast,ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice is joined by ASCA Assistant Director of Government Affairs Stephen Abresch and ASCA Director of Education and Clinical Affairs Gina Throneberry for a discussion about the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ COVID-19 vaccination mandate and quality reporting rules for participating healthcare workers, including those affiliated with ASCs.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, Charlie Leonard of the ASCA public affairs team talks with Carol Stanfill, vice president, US ambulatory surgery centers, at DePuy Synthes, about the outlook for outpatient orthopedic surgery and the expanding use of medical devices, implants, robotics and more. DePuy Synthes is the orthopedics company of Johnson & Johnson, and Carol Stanfill leads the company’s ASC capabilities team nationwide, giving her a distinct perspective on both current market conditions as well as the continued migration of orthopedic procedures to the outpatient setting.
This episode was recorded in late December 2021.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with Kara Newbury, ASCA regulatory counsel and director of government affairs, and Alex Taira, ASCA regulatory policy and research manager, about the new surprise billing regulations that took effect at the beginning of 2022. The conversation addresses both new prohibitions on certain billing practices as well as new requirements for good faith cost estimates for certain patients. ASC administrators will want to listen to this short, informative program to learn how to stay current and compliant with this new, consequential law.
ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice is joined by Annie Sariego, the chair of ASCA’s Government Affairs Committee, and Kara Newbury, ASCA regulatory counsel and director of government affairs, for a discussion about the Outpatient Surgery Quality and Access Act of 2021. This legislation, which was recently introduced in Congress, was developed by several members of the US House and Senate with the help and cooperation of ASCA. It is intended to improve the patient experience, lower the cost of outpatient surgeries and keep ASCs competitive with other sites of care.
Charlie Leonard of ASCA’s public affairs team talks with Jocelyn Gaddie, chief executive officer, and Hannah Hagan, business development manager, of in2itive Business Solutions about a range of business strategies for ASCs navigating the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, including staffing, coding and billing-related matters. in2itive Business Solutions is an ASCA affiliate partner and a full-service healthcare revenue cycle management and consulting firm that specializes in helping ASCs improve their coding, billing, claims processing and collections.
ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with Cindy Young, administrator of the Surgery Center of Farmington in Farmington, Missouri, and Rebecca Craig, chief executive officer of Harmony Surgery Center in Fort Collins, Colorado, about keeping surgical patients safe from infections. Both Young and Craig are registered nurses, CASC-certified administrators and past ASCA Board members. They currently chair ASCA’s Education and Programs Committee and Quality and Patient Safety Committee, respectively. This highly informative discussion considers sterilization of the surgical room, regulatory inspections, accreditation and the importance of antibiotic therapies in fighting and remedying common infections.
ASCA Regulatory Counsel and Director of Government Affairs Kara Newbury joins podcast host and ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice for a discussion about the Hospitals Without Walls program, the regulatory framework put in place by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic to allow nonhospital healthcare facilities, including ASCs, to achieve a hospital status under Medicare for certain outpatient treatments and procedures. In this episode, Prentice and Newbury look back over the first year of the program’s implementation, discuss what worked and what didn’t and conclude with their outlook for this nascent CMS initiative.
ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice and ASCA Regulatory Counsel and Director of Government Affairs Kara Newbury come together to discuss the 2022 proposed payment rule for ASCs and hospital outpatient departments released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on July 19, 2021. The proposal will be finalized later this year after CMS officials review comments submitted by interested parties. Once final, the rule will set Medicare reimbursement levels for procedures and quality reporting requirements for ASCs, determine which surgical procedures ASCs can perform for Medicare beneficiaries and more, effective January 1, 2022.
ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with Jessica Lee, MD, an ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeon who practices at the Surgery Center of Charleston in South Carolina. In this highly informative program, Dr. Lee discusses advances in ENT surgical techniques, postoperative pain management and her special interest in promoting and prescribing lifestyle changes and integrative approaches to common chronic ENT issues.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice sits down for a conversation with Kathy Wilson, executive director of the ASC Quality Collaboration (ASC QC), to discuss the ASC QC’s current initiatives, long-range goals and recent engagement with The Leapfrog Group’s independent quality reporting efforts.
ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice sits down with David George, MD, a leading ophthalmologist and eye surgeon, for a discussion about surgical treatments for cataracts, nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia), astigmatisms and glaucoma. In this highly informative program, Dr. George helps patients better understand how surgical eye treatments can improve both their vision and their health—as well as what to expect during and after these common outpatient procedures.
ASCA Public Affairs team member Charlie Leonard interviews David Shapiro, MD, a past president and current Board member of ASCA, in his capacity as a member of the board of directors of the Facility Guidelines Institute (FGI). FGI is widely recognized as the leading source of facility guidelines for the design, construction and remodeling of ASCs and other healthcare facilities. In this short, informative program, listeners can learn more about the role of FGI and its essential ASC-focused publications.
ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with One World Surgery (OWS) Chief Executive Officer Claire Cunningham from her home and the site of a future surgery center in the Dominican Republic. Bill and Claire discuss the resumption of OWS’s medical missions in both Honduras and the Dominican Republic, providing essential medical care through the COVID-19 pandemic and ASCA’s continued commitment to surgical missions in both countries.
Charlie Leonard of ASCA’s public affairs team talks with ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice about the new 401(k) plan ASCA is making available to its members. In this brief introduction, Prentice explains how ASCA members can request a free evaluation of their current retirement plans or learn more about the benefits of establishing a first-time retirement plan for their employees. Prentice also discusses the time and cost savings ASCA members could realize when they participate in this new ASCA benefit.
During this sponsored episode of ASCA’s Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, Charlie Leonard of ASCA’s public affairs team sits down with Tom Blasco, MD, and Anne Cole, RN, CASC, of Surgical Directions, a leading ASC consultancy and ASCA affiliate, for a discussion about the challenges and advantages of ASC-hospital partnerships. This the first in a series of sponsored content podcast episodes ASCA will be offering to enable ASCA affiliates to speak directly to ASCA members about a range of essential products and services and issues of importance to the ASC community.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks about the evolution of outpatient joint surgery with Dr. Anthony Romeo, a leading orthopedic surgeon who specializes in outpatient shoulder and elbow procedures. Today, thanks to advances in anesthesia, arthroscopic surgical techniques and postoperative pain management, joint surgery is more commonly performed on an outpatient basis, allowing patients to recover more quickly and more comfortably in their own homes. During this discussion, Bill Prentice invites Dr. Romeo to draw on his knowledge and experience of caring for thousands of patients to answer some of the most common questions about outpatient joint surgery.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice is joined by fellow ASCA Board member and Past ASCA President David Shapiro, MD, for a discussion about ASCA’s Culture of Safety Survey, which is now available to ASCs. Charlie Leonard of ASCA’s public affairs team moderates this timely conversation that provides ASCs with all they need to know to register for and complete this short but essential survey. [Please note: ASCs must subscribe by March 31, 2021, to participate in the 2021 survey.]
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice is joined by ASCA Regulatory Counsel and Director of Government Affairs Kara Newbury for a discussion about MedPAC, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. Prentice and Newbury look at the role of the 17-member commission in providing advice and recommendations to Congress regarding payments to Medicare-approved providers, including ASCs.
ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice is joined by ASCA Regulatory Counsel and Director of Government Affairs Kara Newbury for a discussion of Medicare’s 2021 final ASC payment rule that was released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on December 2, 2020. The rule sets new reimbursement rates for ASCs in 2021, maintains all of the existing measures currently included in Medicare’s ASC Quality Reporting Program, adds a number of new surgical procedures to the ASC-payable list and more.
In this episode, ASCA public affairs team member Charlie Leonard sits down with ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice to discuss planning for the ASCA 2021 annual conference, now a virtual event.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with Rebecca Craig, chief executive officer of Harmony Surgery Center, and Janie Kinsey, administrator of Surgicenter of Kansas City, about how ASCs are keeping their patients and healthcare workers safe by strictly adhering to both pre-pandemic as well as new COVID-19 infection prevention protocols.
In this episode, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice and Stuart Simon, MD, medical director of United Surgical Partners International (USPI), discuss the findings of a survey of more than 700 ambulatory surgery centers conducted this past spring. The survey found essential surgical procedures conducted during the pandemic were performed safely, with virtually no heightened risk of patients contracting the virus either during or following their outpatient surgery.
In this episode, Charlie Leonard, a member of ASCA’s Public Affairs team, is joined by ASCA’s Manager of Grassroots and Political Affairs Adam Parker and ASCAPAC Board Member and Parkway Surgery Center Administrator Kirsten Anderson for a discussion about hosting virtual facility tours. With many members of Congress curtailing their in-person events and meetings during the pandemic and many ASCs operating under tight new safety constraints, the in-person tours that served as a cornerstone of ASCA’s advocacy for many years are unfeasible today. In response, ASCA has built a new virtual tour program to help ASCA members connect with their members of Congress to educate them about the impact of COVID-19 on their communities.
In this episode, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice is joined by ASCA’s Regulatory Counsel and Director of Government Affairs Kara Newbury for a discussion about the 2021 proposed Medicare payment rule released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on August 4, 2020. The proposal, which will be finalized this fall following comments by interested parties, sets Medicare reimbursement levels and quality reporting requirements for procedures performed in ASCs in the coming year.
On July 1, 2020, Bill Prentice, ASCA chief executive officer, sat down with Dr. Tom Deas, a leading gastroenterologist who is board certified in both internal medicine and gastroenterology, to discuss some of the risks associated with delaying even common procedures such as colonoscopies.
Tom Deas practiced medicine for 20 years in the US Air Force before retiring as colonel. Over the course of his private sector career that followed, Tom has been the medical director of several specialty care facilities, held several distinguished academic positions and was active in several national medical specialty organizations, including a term as president of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE).
On April 22, 2020, Bill Prentice, ASCA chief executive officer, and Michael Patterson, president and chief executive officer of Mississippi Valley Health in Davenport, Iowa, recorded an episode of ASCA’s Advancing Surgical Care Podcast that looked prospectively at the resumption of elective surgeries. In this episode, recorded two months later, Bill and Michael rejoin their discussion about elective surgeries and provide a detailed update on the progress, as well as the continuing challenges, occurring in outpatient surgery.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, Bill Prentice, ASCA chief executive officer, interviews Beth Munnich, a distinguished healthcare economist and professor at the University of Louisville. Professor Munnich has authored a number of important healthcare studies, including ASC-focused research, and she has been widely recognized and awarded for her academic achievements and publications.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA CEO Bill Prentice and Healthcare Bluebook Co-Founder and Senior Vice President Bill Kampine discuss the outlook for resuming elective surgeries and what to expect immediately and in the future regarding case volumes, pricing and commercial insurance coverage.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, Shawn Bryant, director of meetings, Chris Schriever, director of affiliate relations and opportunities, and Katy Hurtz, associate director of marketing, discuss the ASCA 2020 Virtual Conference & Expo, happening live July 9–10 and available on demand until October 31.
In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA CEO Bill Prentice is joined by John Goehle of Ambulatory Healthcare Strategies for a discussion about the responsibilities of ASCs enrolled in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
In this 14-minute episode, Bill Prentice, ASCA chief executive officer, and Michael Patterson, president and chief executive officer of Mississippi Valley Health and ASCA Board member, provide insightful commentary on the latest guidance available to ASCs considering resuming elective surgeries and procedures. Federal and state guidelines, recommendations from professional societies and the checklist ASCA prepared to help its members reopen their facilities are discussed.
Join Bill Prentice, ASCA chief executive officer, and Mandy Hawkins, director of the Surgery Center of Charleston and ASCA Board member, as they discuss the Hospitals Without Walls program and the two ways ASCs can participate in this important new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services initiative.
In this 15-minute episode, Mandy discusses the application process, billing procedures, preliminary talks with commercial insurers and more—a must-listen recording for any ASC considering participating in this program.
Join ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice and ASCA Director of Government Affairs & Regulatory Counsel Kara Newbury for some brief updates to the new federal financial assistance available to ASCs.
In this 12-minute episode, Bill and Kara provide an overview of the funding programs created by the recently enacted CARES Act and other federal initiatives that are available to healthcare providers. They also discuss recent updates and guidance that ASCA has obtained from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding eligibility, applications and pending requests for additional regulatory guidance.
This short episode is the first of several that ASCA intends to produce in the days ahead to help ASCs navigate the challenges of the current COVID-19 operating environment. The podcasts will be short, informal and focused on delivering information to the ASC community.