The Advancing Surgical Care Podcast

Send us a textIn this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with Robert Saltaformaggio, senior counsel at Liles Parker, a Washington, DC-based law firm that focuses on regulatory healthcare compliance and reimbursement issues. Saltaformaggio is also a certified professional coder who assists ASCs and other healthcare providers with Medicare and Medicaid payer coverage and payment requirements, as well as claims disputes with major payers such as the various Blue Cross Blue Shield entities and UnitedHealthcare. During their discussion, Prentice and Saltaformaggio talk about the current regulatory landscape, the role of AI, the importance of conducting self-audits and more.

Send us a textIn this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice is joined by HST Pathways Chief Executive Officer David Thawley for an in-depth discussion about the company's recently released “State of the Industry Report: Best Practices & Industry Benchmarks for Optimizing ASC Operations.” Prentice and Thawley discuss several of the trends in ASC care and management in 2024, including specializations on the rise, operating room efficiencies, revenue cycle management and a host of best practices that emerged from examining the operational data and reporting of 590 ASCs across 47 states.To access a free copy of the report, visit the HST Pathways website.

Send us a textIn this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice and ASCA Chief Advocacy Officer Kara Newbury preview ASCA's public policy priorities for 2025, including improved Medicare reimbursement for ASCs, additions to the ASC Covered Procedures List (ASC-CPL) and removal of several ASC Quality Reporting Program measures. During their discussion, Prentice and Newbury talk in detail about positively positioning ASCs for the current national political environment, where overall health spending reductions and regulatory reform are already taking precedence in the new Congress and administration.

Send us a textIn this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA President Mark Wainner discusses the current shortage of anesthesia providers confronting ASC operators with Alfonso del Granado, ASCA Board member and administrator of Covenant High Plains Surgery Centers in Lubbock, Texas.Del Granado shares some of the management techniques he employs to better use anesthesia providers within the facilities he oversees. Chief among the recommendations that del Granado makes are some detailed examples of how to efficiently schedule anesthesia providers, as well as managing a profitable mix of patients who have commercial or government insurance.

Send us a textIn this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with ASCA Chief Advocacy Officer Kara Newbury about the final 2025 ASC payment rule that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released November 1.  Bill and Kara discuss the results of the annual rulemaking process on the ASC Covered Procedures List (ASC-CPL), the inflationary adjustment and reimbursements for specific surgical procedures, and ASC quality reporting requirements for the coming year. They also consider ways the recent presidential and congressional elections and the impending change in the Administration could impact surgery centers.

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Advocacy Officer Kara Newbury leads a discussion with Dr. David Kenigsberg, a Florida-based clinical cardiac electrophysiologist and a member of ASCA's Cardiovascular Working Group. This short but insightful program focuses on the kinds of cardiovascular procedures that are being safely performed in the outpatient setting today as well as ASCA's efforts to persuade the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to add additional cardiovascular procedures to its ASC Covered Procedures List.

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Immediate Past President Mandy Hawkins, RN, CASC, CAIP, leads a discussion with Press Ganey Emerging Markets President Bob McSweeney and Director of Health Policy Eme Augustine about the challenges and opportunities confronting ASCs administering the Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgery Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (OAS CAHPS) Survey. With the mandatory January 2025 start date for this postoperative patient survey looming and the threat of a reduction in Medicare reimbursement facing ASCs that fail to comply, this highly informative podcast offers both practical advice and strong words of encouragement for ASCs to start administering the OAS CAHPS Survey today.

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with Will Evans, senior director of data science & insights at HST Pathways, following Evans's presentation at ASCA 2024 in Orlando, Florida, earlier this year. Evans explains how even small, standalone surgery centers can capture and analyze data to improve their financial performance and patient outcomes. He also offers practical advice for sharing performance data with ASC personnel in nonthreatening and constructive ways.

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with Debbie Mack, RN, CAIP, a leading infection prevention (IP) educator and consultant, following an IP session Mack presented at the ASCA 2024 Conference & Expo in Orlando, Florida.Beginning with the ongoing training a surgery center's infection preventionist should seek each year and the need to document that training, Mack and Prentice talk through a list of key elements a comprehensive IP program should include. They also discuss ways to make compliance easier and the workplace culture needed to support a holistic program. Their conversation ends with a discussion about the Certified Ambulatory Infection Preventionist (CAIP) credential, the credibility the credential confers on credential holders and the valuable ASC-specific IP study materials available on the CAIP website.

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with attorney Sal Puccio during the ASCA 2024 Conference & Expo in Orlando, Florida, to discuss a range of human resources issues facing ASCs today. Puccio is widely regarded as an expert on ASC employment practices and his presentations at ASCA events are well-regarded by ASCA members. He is a partner at the law firm Garfunkel Wild and a member of the firm's employment law, litigation and healthcare groups, among others. His practice focuses primarily on advising and counseling healthcare providers on their day-to-day business operations, with extensive experience in counseling clients concerning the employer-employee relationship, as well as complex commercial litigation matters.

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with Dr. Paul Alcock, chief information security officer for Surgical Information Systems, where he leads the company's enterprise cybersecurity program, including threat and incident management, security policy and governance. Their conversation took place at ASCA's Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida, following Dr. Alcock's presentation on cybersecurity in ASCs.  With the advent of serious online threats to health care providers and their patients, Dr. Alcock's timely counsel and advice should not be missed. 

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, hear Dr. Abbey Vandersall, vice president for Quality and Clinical Services for ASC management company AMSURG, talk with ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice about the life-saving importance of colonoscopy screenings for the early detection of colorectal cancer. Their discussion also focuses on compliance with the new recommendation for testing to begin at age 45 and the critical role surgery centers have played in expanding access to colonoscopies, as well as lowering their cost for both patients and payers alike.

In this episode of ASCA's Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, listen to oral surgeon Dayne Jensen, MD, explain why he believes an ASC offers the safest, most convenient setting for his patients. Then, find out how he turned his vision into reality—even for Medicaid patients in his community. In conversation with ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice, Dr. Jensen talks about ways to facilitate patient referrals, the unexpected benefits his surgery center offers his community and his experience treating Medicaid beneficiaries.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

 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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

During this sponsored episode of ASCA's Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, 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.

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, 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 postoperative 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.

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, 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.]

In this episode, 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.

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, 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.

In this episode, 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.