Joint-Venture Ambulatory Surgery Centers: The Perfect Partnership

Ambulatory surgery growth has increased in the last few decades as ambulatory surgery centers have been shown to succeed in cost efficiencies through their smaller size and breadth, specialization of care, and ability to quickly participate in perioperative process improvement and education.

A 5-year retrospective fiscal review was performed for all Northwell Health-physician ambulatory surgery center joint ventures. The outcome measures studied included model of ownership, specialty types, and gross revenue. Additional facility characteristics were studied, including growth trajectory, facility size, and cost to build a de novo facility.

Eleven free-standing ambulatory surgery centers were identified at Northwell Health during the 5-year study period. The total gross revenue for all Northwell clinical joint ventures for 2019 alone was $102,854,000. Northwell Health is a majority stakeholder in eight of their joint venture ambulatory surgery centers, with an average Northwell ownership of 53 percent and an average number of physician owners per facility of 11. The number of hospital-physician joint-venture ambulatory surgery centers grew from two to 11 facilities during the study period (450 percent). Surgical volume followed a similar trajectory, increasing 295 percent over the same time period.

The ambulatory surgery center setting provides a vast number of possibilities for key stakeholders, including patients themselves, to benefit from financial and clinical efficiencies. Ambulatory surgery centers have been popular, as they meet patient expectations for convenience of elective surgery, reduce payer and clinical pressures to minimize length of stay in hospitals, and achieve similar or higher quality care with less intense resources.