DeepSummary
In this podcast episode, Catherine Levanes, CEO of Sante Health Partners Ambulatory Surgery Center in California, discusses trends and opportunities in the ASC and outpatient arena. She highlights three key trends: the rise of AI in healthcare, the growing collaboration between hospitals/healthcare systems and surgery centers, and the addition of complex surgeries like total shoulder and ankle replacements to the ASC setting.
Levanes shares insights into how Sante Health Partners is incorporating third-party indemnity claims into their payer mix, which can provide a higher profit margin than traditional contracted rates, especially in the accident-prone Southern California region. She emphasizes the importance of consulting healthcare attorneys and properly managing the fee schedule for this model.
Additionally, Levanes expresses interest in welcoming partnerships and collaborations with hospitals and medical groups, as she sees benefits in terms of efficiency, time management, and revenue enhancement for both surgeons and patients. She also mentions plans for Sante Health Partners to focus on becoming an ortho-advanced surgery center, specializing in complex orthopedic surgeries.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- AI has the potential to improve healthcare decision-making, efficiency, and patient experiences.
- Collaborations between hospitals/healthcare systems and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are on the rise, presenting opportunities for both parties.
- The addition of complex surgeries like total shoulder and ankle replacements to the ASC setting is exciting for both business growth and patient care.
- Incorporating third-party indemnity claims into ASC payer mixes can increase profit margins, but requires careful legal consultation and fee schedule management.
- Partnerships and collaborations between ASCs and medical groups/orthopedic practices can enhance efficiency, time management, and revenue for all parties involved.
- Specialization and accreditation as an ortho-advanced surgery center is a growth strategy for some ASCs, allowing them to differentiate and focus on complex orthopedic surgeries.
- Faster patient recovery times and scheduling flexibility are key benefits of the ASC setting compared to hospitals.
- Proper execution and patient-centric approaches are crucial when implementing new strategies or services in the ASC space.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “I think AI would, with the right algorithms and AI application, that would really help the healthcare professionals to be more accurate and efficient decision to improve patients experience and outcomes.“ by Catherine Levanes
- “There's been notable rising collaborations between hospitals and healthcare systems with surgery centers. That's quite exciting.“ by Catherine Levanes
- “Those eleven codes in particularly total shoulder replacement and total ankle replacement coming into the ASC space is very exciting. Hopefully this will bring a business boost to the surgery center more and also provide a better patient care post op outpatient.“ by Catherine Levanes
- “I think thinking about how to manage the fee schedule for this type of payer mix, consulting with healthcare attorneys about how to set it up within their surgery centers because these are third party indemnity claims. There are a lot of legal med, legal aspect of it, but if it's done right, executed well, and patients are getting faster recovery time, I think it can work for a lot of surgery centers.“ by Catherine Levanes
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Episode Information
Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Becker's Healthcare
2/5/24
This episode features Catherine Llavanes, Chief Executive Officer, Sante Health Partners Ambulatory Surgery Center. Here, she discusses key insights into her background & Sante Health, trends she is paying attention to in the ASC and outpatient space, how her organization is looking at growth in the next few years, and more.