Source: Becker's ASC Review | By Heather Linder | View Full Article
At the 19th Annual Ambulatory Surgery Centers Conference in Chicago on Oct. 25, Karen Reiter, COO, and Robert Bray, Jr., MD, founder and CEO of DISC Sports and Spine Center in Marina del Rey, Calif., discussed the business model for outpatient spine surgery and where minimally invasive surgery will lead.
Dr. Bray and Ms. Reiter discussed how DISC evolved into a multidisciplinary orthopedic and spine practice and built the model of more than just a surgery center. DISC offers a full spectrum of conservative and surgical care for patients.
The business model revolves around doing a lower volume of more high acuity cases, providing a higher level of service for a restricted time and producing lower costs for patients with better outcomes. You center has to become complex enough, Dr. Bray said, because that's where outpatient spine surgery is headed.
"We try to create a non-hospital environment," he said. "Our patient center is the focus. We have private overnight rooms, and our operating rooms are very complex. Don't mistake minimally invasive for minimal procedures. They include maximum technology. You need a big operating room that is well equipped."
To combat physicians taking salaried hospital jobs, DISC created a similarly stable structure with the benefits of being a standalone surgery center. Its model includes physician contracting, human resources, marketing, business development, computerized technology and more.
"We are not hospital-owned, but we have the structure," he said. "It let us become big enough to negotiate with payors. We are taking the ASC and creating a business structure model around it which allowed it to become a bigger entity and take higher acuity cases."
His tips for developing a similar model include:
• Build for the future and plan for growth
• Do not plan for the get-rich-quick model, but for long-term sustainability
• Emphasize safety, quality, infection control and cost-efficiency
• Be flexible
• Do not carry a large amount of debt
• Choose good patients, but don't be desperate. Be willing to say no to cases
About the author
discmdgroup DISC Sports & Spine Center (DISC) is a national leader in minimally invasive spine surgery, orthopedic surgery, and sports medicine care. Our spine surgeons set the standard in artificial disc replacement, spine fusion, discectomy, microdiscectomy and the full spectrum of spine procedures. The group’s orthopedic surgeons advance the state of joint preservation surgery and total joint replacement, including total knee replacement as well as total hip replacement. Our flagship surgery centers based in Newport Beach, Marina del Rey, and Carlsbad serve patients local to Los Angeles, Orange County and San Diego, as well as the rest of the country. Read more articles by discmdgroup.
