The year ahead seems promising for ASCs. Becker's ASC Review asked administrators to share what they're most excited for in 2021:
Sam J.W. Romeo, MD, general partner at Tower Health & Wellness Center (Turlock, Calif.): We are excited about Medicare and commercial insurers opening the approval gates for expanding procedures being performed in the ASC — total joints [becoming] Medicare-eligible procedures is an example. We have several patients who are well over 65 years old who have been waiting for this to happen. Patients have delayed surgery because of their hope this would happen and their belief in the efficiency and outcomes of surgery centers (low infection rate, high satisfaction, etc.). This has been amplified by the fear of COVID-19 in the hospital environment. Recovery at home after surgery makes the most sense for patients, including the geriatric patient.
Pamela Bronson, CEO of Access Sports Medicine & Orthopaedics (Exeter, N.H.): I am most excited for the continued momentum, recognition and inevitable impact towards continued growth in the ASC industry as a result of a growing public awareness that ASCs are a safe option for outpatient surgical care. I believe programs that allowed ASCs to temporarily apply and adopt hospital outpatient department status will survive beyond the public health emergency and accelerate the broad acceptance by both legislators and our patients that the ASC is a safe and lower-cost option for surgical care.
Through the unprecedented circumstances of the past year, efforts to refocus and improve safety accelerated to reset expectations and perceptions. The additional enhanced safety measures taken throughout healthcare due to management of COVID-19 will likely survive long after the pandemic, further advancing ASCs as the preferable lower-cost option to traditional healthcare delivery models.