Hospitals are no longer the location of choice for major surgical procedures. In the COVID era, it became clear that surgery in hospitals increases costs, infection rates, and surgery time and often comes with higher complication rates. Patients can now choose a facility that increases the quality of care while lowering cost – ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs).
Providers are choosing ASCs for a range of procedures, from joint replacements to complex cardiology operations. The Center for Innovative GYN Care (CIGC) has taken the nationwide lead in performing GYN surgeries in these safe, effective environments as well.
CIGC has published peer-reviewed results on thousands of patients who have had hysterectomy, myomectomy, and endometriosis procedures in ASCs, providing value-based care – the highest quality of care at the lowest possible cost.
“The value-based care model that CIGC has adopted is a win-win for everyone involved,” said Dr. Paul Mackoul, MD, co-founder of CIGC. “Patients get the high-quality care they need at a price they can afford, and payers save money on unnecessary hospital stays.”
So what is an ASC? There are two main types: a hospital-based ASC, known as an HOPD (Hospital Outpatient Department), and a free-standing ASC. HOPDs are part of the hospital facility and are not free-standing. The hospital owns the HOPD, and the HOPD charges and receives payments equal to the hospital. This means the HOPD is paid up to 60% higher than the free-standing ASC.
A free-standing ASC is not associated with the hospital. Although the free-standing ASC can do everything the HOPD can (often better since they are more efficient and not run like a hospital), the payments are much lower.
“Patients want to know that they’re getting the best possible care, and we know GYN surgery at an ASC is a great option,” said Dr. Natalya Danilyants, MD, co-founder of CIGC. “ASCs offer patients the same clinical outcomes as hospitals, but at a fraction of the cost.”
Freestanding ASCs also have very high patient satisfaction rates at over 95%, compared to HOPD or hospitals, which are usually in the lower 70 percentiles. One reason for this is that ASCs enable a one-on-one approach to every patient, ensuring individualized care and personal attention.
In addition, GYN-focused ASCs at CIGC, such as Innovations Surgery Center in Rockville, MD, and the Center for Modern Surgery in Secaucus, NJ, have more appropriate equipment than hospitals since they focus specifically on GYN procedures. Staffing is also better since nurses and all clinical and non-clinical staff are focused on only one service line: GYN. At hospitals, the surgical technicians, nurses, and staff have to satisfy the needs of many different service lines, such as orthopedics, cardiology, general surgery, and others. CIGC’s ASCs have only one focus: to provide the best possible GYN surgical care.
“The facility is super clean with the most advanced equipment for surgical procedures,” said one of Dr. Paul Mackoul’s patients, Amy, in a Google review. “Everybody is very professional and friendly to interact with from the initial appointment to post-surgical follow-up. This facility is far superior to a hospital and the downtime is greatly reduced.”
Surgeries performed at ASCs cost less for the patient and the healthcare system. Medicare has created a specific website, Medicare’s Procedure Price Lookup tool, to help patients understand the difference in cost between a hospital and an ASC.
For example, a hysterectomy (CPT Code: 58544) will cost $1,670 at a hospital but only $944 at an ASC. This difference in price is even more significant when several procedures are performed at one surgery. The hospital price is the same as the HOPD price, so even though surgery is done at an HOPD, the price will still be much higher for the patient compared to the free-standing ASC.
Despite all the benefits of having GYN surgery at an ASC, some patients still choose to have surgeries in hospitals. This may be partly due to a lack of awareness of their options and failure to understand the significant differences between ASCs and hospitals.
“Our goal is to educate and empower patients to make the best decision for their health,” said Dr. Natalya Danilyants. “We want them to know that they have options and that GYN surgery at an ASC is a safe, effective, and more affordable option than surgery at a hospital.”
Learn more about the benefits of GYN surgery at an ASC and hear more about patients’ experiences by visiting CIGC’s website.
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