In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with Nina Goins, executive director of the ASC Quality Collaboration (ASCQC), about the organization’s focus on helping ASCs maintain the highest standards of safety and quality in the delivery of surgical care. Prentice and Goins discuss the organization’s ASC Safety & Quality Assessment, which is offered annually May 1 through June 15 and results in the publication of a national benc...

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice and ASCA Chief Advocacy Officer Kara Newbury discuss the 2026 final payment rule for ASCs released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on November 21. The 1,657-page rule establishes the inflation update for Medicare payments to ASCs, the expanded list of surgical codes that can be performed on Medicare beneficiaries in the ASC setting, significant changes to the ASC ...

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice and Alberto Ardon, MD, president of the Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia (SAMBA), discuss their collaboration to address the current anesthesia provider shortage and plans for the ASCA + SAMBA Conference & Expo, May 13–16 in Washington, DC. As ASCA members are acutely aware, the healthcare system is currently facing a significant shortage of anesthesia providers. While ASCA has ...

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with Beth LaBouyer, executive director of the California Ambulatory Surgery Association (CASA), about her impending retirement at the end of this year. LaBouyer started her career in nursing, then worked as an ASC administrator and served as a CASA volunteer, ultimately joining the CASA board and becoming the organization’s first executive director. Over the next 21 years, she built and gr...

In this episode of ASCA’s Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, “Integrating EHRs in ASCs,” ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with Illinois Ambulatory Surgery Center Association President Melissa Rice about procuring and implementing electronic health records (EHR) in the ASC setting. Rice is the administrator of Loyola Ambulatory Surgery Center at Oakbrook Terrace in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois—a member of Trinity Health—and has a wealth of knowledge about EHRs and fostering their a...

In celebration of National ASC Month this August, the latest episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast offers a quick, 10-minute overview of the valuable resources available to help spotlight both individual surgery centers and the ASC community as a whole. Tune in to hear ASCA Government Affairs Manager Maia Kunkel discuss National ASC Month activities, including how to coordinate surgery center tours with elected officials and how to participate in ASCA’s National Advocacy Day—an annua...

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with employment law expert Salvatore Puccio, partner at Garfunkel Wild, a law firm that specializes in addressing regulatory and business challenges in the healthcare industry. Prentice and Puccio discuss a wide range of workplace issues, including advice on how to maintain workplace harmony, conduct proper employee performance evaluations, approach disciplinary actions and more.

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with Naya Kehayes about her presentation “Pro Tips for Successful ASC Payer Contract Negotiations” at ASCA’s annual conference in Denver this past May. Kehayes, a national speaker on ASC business strategy and current member of the ASCA Government Affairs Committee, covers highlights from her presentation and provides practical and insightful advice that can benefit every ASC.

Send us a text In 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 pa...

Send us a text In 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 efficiencie...

Send us a text In 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 nationa...

Send us a text In 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 so...

Send us a text In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with ASCA Chief Advocacy Officer Kara Newbury about the 2025 final 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 re...

Send us a text 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 Service...

Send us a text 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 postoper...

Send us a text 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 wit...

Send us a text 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 el...

Send us a text 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 ...

Send us a text 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. Wi...

Send us a text 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 e...