Essential news and information for ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs)
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Recent Episodes
AUGUST 16, 2023
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.
Listen Now 11 min 52 sec
JULY 24, 2023
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.
Please log in for member access to this episode.
Please log in for member access to this episode. 26 min 52 sec
JULY 13, 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.
Listen Now 18 min 07 sec
JUNE 20, 2023
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.
Listen Now 12 min 08 sec
MAY 25, 2023
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.
Listen Now 28 min 58 sec
APRIL 13, 2023
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.
Listen Now 14 min 03 sec
MARCH 16, 2023
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.
Listen Now 19 min 56 sec
FEBRUARY 20, 2023
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.
Listen Now 11 min 30 sec
JANUARY 19, 2023
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.
Listen Now 13 min 33 sec
DECEMBER 8, 2022
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.
NOVEMBER 8, 2022
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.
Please log in for member access to this episode. 20 min 18 sec
NOVEMBER 3, 2022
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, an ASCA affiliate, is a leading supplier of health information technology products and services worldwide, including EHR systems. 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.
Listen Now 17 min 57 sec
AUGUST 10, 2022
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.
Listen Now 12 min 11 sec
JULY 22, 2022
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.
Please log in for member access to this episode. 19 min 34 sec
JULY 14, 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.
Listen Now 18 min 03 sec
JULY 5, 2022
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.
Listen Now 14 min 35 sec
JUNE 9, 2022
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.
Listen Now 13 min 18 sec
MAY 18, 2022
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.
Listen Now 13 min 13 sec
MARCH 21, 2022
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.
Listen Now 20 min 47 sec
FEBRUARY 14, 2022
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.
Listen Now 14 min 31 sec
JANUARY 26, 2022
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.
Listen Now 14 min 59 sec
JANUARY 20, 2022
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.
Listen Now 15 min 18 sec
NOVEMBER 29, 2021
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.
Listen Now 21 min 26 sec
NOVEMBER 17, 2021
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.
Listen Now 14 min 19 sec
OCTOBER 6, 2021
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.
Listen Now 20 min 12 sec
SEPTEMBER 8, 2021
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.
Listen Now 18 min 48 sec
JULY 28, 2021
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.
Please log in for member access to this episode. 19 min 22 sec
JUNE 28, 2021
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.
Listen Now 17 min 27 sec
JUNE 17, 2021
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.
Listen Now 15 min 46 sec
JUNE 2, 2021
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.
Listen Now 14 min 07 sec
MAY 21, 2021
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.
Listen Now 13 min 23 sec
MAY 5, 2021
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.
Listen Now 12 min 18 sec
APRIL 7, 2021
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.
Please log in for member access to this episode. 9 min 12 sec
MARCH 25, 2021
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.
Listen Now 17 min 56 sec
MARCH 18, 2021
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 post-operative 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.
Listen Now 21 min 28 sec
MARCH 3, 2021
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.]
Listen Now 18 min 17 sec
FEBRUARY 2, 2021
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.
Please log in for member access to this episode. 18 min 25 sec
DECEMBER 8, 2020
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.
Please log in for member access to this episode. 19 min 05 sec
NOVEMBER 17, 2020
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.
Listen Now 14 min 45 sec
OCTOBER 21, 2020
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.
Listen Now 13 min 32 sec
OCTOBER 5, 2020
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.
Listen Now 17 min 50 sec
SEPTEMBER 9, 2020
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.
Please log in for member access to this episode. 14 min 10 sec
AUGUST 10, 2020
ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice is joined by ASCA 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.
Listen Now 20 min 50 sec
JULY 15, 2020
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).
Listen Now 13 min 55 sec
JUNE 18, 2020
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.
Listen Now 12 min 50 sec
JUNE 11, 2020
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.
Listen Now 15 min 03 sec
JUNE 2, 2020
ASCA Chief Executive Officer 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.
Please log in for member access to this episode. 13 min 42 sec
MAY 13, 2020
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.
Please log in for member access to this episode. 10 min 13 sec
MAY 6, 2020
ASCA Chief Executive Officer 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).
Please log in for member access to this episode. 15 min 47 sec
APRIL 23, 2020
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.
Please log in for member access to this episode. 14 min 38 sec
APRIL 17, 2020
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.
Please log in for member access to this episode. 14 min 43 sec
APRIL 15, 2020
Join ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice and ASCA Regulatory Counsel and Director of Government Affairs 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.
Please log in for member access to this episode. 12 min 32 sec
