Established in 1970 in Phoenix,
Arizona, the first Ambulatory Surgery
Center (ASC) was the brainchild of
two physicians wishing to provide timely
and convenient surgical services to their
patients. Disgruntled by hospital equipment
budgets, limited operating room
availability and scheduling delays, these
physicians were looking for a cost-effective
alternative for routine surgical
procedures that did
not require a prolonged
hospital stay.
Also called outpatient
surgical
centers, ASCs are
health facilities that
provide surgeries
and diagnostic services
where no overnight
stay is required.
Overall, these
centers focus on procedures that
are more intensive than what might be
performed in a doctor’s office, but allow
the patient to leave within a few hours.
As early as thirty years ago, many knee,
eye and cosmetic surgery procedures
were routinely performed in this type of
setting. Today, extensive dental, orthopedic,
gynecology, as well as routine cardiac
procedures and colonoscopies are the
norm. Not to be confused with urgent
care centers that provide primary health
care, ASCs accept patients solely on a
physician referral basis, and maintain
at least one, and sometimes more, dedicated
operating rooms. There is no emergency
room for walk-in patients, and no
facilities for lengthy recuperations.
Physicians have full or part ownership
in approximately 61 percent of all ASCs,
according to a recent report by the American
Association
of Ambulatory Surgery
Centers. Additionally,
information
recently provided
by Verispan, a
Pennsylvania based
company that provides
health care
data, notes that outpatient
surgery centers
have grown more
than 65 percent between 2000 and 2006.
There is also evidence to support a
growing percentage of out-patient centers
that are owned and operated by
hospitals that share their name. Several
of these facilities are located within the
Kansas City metropolitan area, and include
Shawnee Mission Surgery Center
(Shawnee Mission Medical Center)
Olathe Medical Center Outpatient Surgery
(Olathe Medical Center), as well as those affiliated with Saint Luke’s Nueterra
Healthcare and St. Mary’s Medical
Center. Four more are operated by
the HCA Midwest Health System, including
the Centerpoint Ambulatory
Surgery Center, Surgicenter of Johnson
County, Overland Park Surgery Center,
and Mid America Surgery Institute.
«March 2008 Edition |
