The Advancing Surgical Care Podcast

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, 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.

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 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.