Who’s Who in the Ambulatory Surgery Industry

Text by Kathy Dix, Kris Ellis, and Jennifer Schraag

Welcome to our third annual Who’s Who in the Ambulatory Surgery Industry. We asked our readers and members of the industry to nominate outstanding individuals and facilities that serve the outpatient healthcare community, and were impressed by the caliber of these candidates who give the industry its good name. In a year of tough challenges to the livelihood of the ASC industry, it’s appropriate to celebrate our victories, acknowledge our contributions, and ponder the future of this dynamic healthcare delivery model.

Rick DeHart

Rick DeHart found his niche in the orthopedic specialty arena in 1996. In 1999, with the help of his partner Scott Thomas, DeHart launched a company with more focus on orthopedic procedures in the ambulatory setting — thus Pinnacle III was born. Pinnacle III evolved over the years and now focuses on three core competencies: outpatient ambulatory surgery, diagnostic imaging, and physical rehabilitation.

DeHart serves as president and chief executive officer, and prides himself on overcoming the hurdles in building his company. By the end of 2005, Pinnacle III will operate 20 centers, and has branched out in the development and management of gastrointestinal, bariatric, and multi-specialty centers.

“We’ve had a fair amount of success,” says DeHart. Pinnacle’s focus on orthopedics has proven successful and DeHart says that while it was exciting getting into the ASC industry and watching it grow; its continued growth is exhilarating as well. “We’re doing things that I never thought we’d be doing in the ASCs. There’s definitely going to continue to be evolution within the industry,” he says.

DeHart also advocates for the ASC community on the state level through Pinnacle III’s involvement in several state associations. “We encourage that for our centers,” he says. “We want people to be active at the state level and functioning at those state meetings.” — J.S.

Francis P. DiPlacido, DMD, FACD

Francis DiPlacido, DMD, FACD, president of the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC), became involved with the association 10 years ago as a representative of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Association. “We felt that oral and maxillofacial surgery offices were basically mini-ASCs, and some of the things we were doing in our offices involved anesthesia and sedation,” he says.

After becoming a board member and surveyor for the association, DiPlacido began interfacing with the diverse group of people that AAAHC encompasses. “I found that the whole idea of accreditation and the people who were involved with it really appealed to me in terms of what I believe in my philosophy in life, which is that one person or a small group of people really can make a difference if you truly believe in something and work together,” he says.

DiPlacido’s enthusiasm and passion for accreditation for ambulatory surgery have been significant motivators in his current position as president of AAAHC. “I believe it’s the way to go, and it’s been very satisfying to see how the ASC industry keeps developing and getting better all the time.” He has also been encouraged by the growth AAAHC has experienced during his involvement. “When I started, we had fewer than 1,000 accredited organizations, and now we’re getting close to 2,500. We’ve become recognized as one of the leaders of ambulatory accreditation, and we’re very proud of that.” —K.E.

John Duggan, MD

As the current president of the American Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers (AAASC), John Duggan, MD, seeks to promote ASC interests throughout the country at both the national and state level. “We take a very public role in terms of promoting surgery centers and we really have two major strengths,” he says. “One is that we have a legislative arm that meets regularly with congressmen and senators and their aids to educate them on ambulatory surgery issues. We also have a very strong educational arm that puts on a number of programs around the country for different ambulatory surgery topics.”

Duggan, a practicing orthopedic surgeon for the past 25 years, became involved with ASCs on a first-hand basis in 1997 when he started a center for his Ohio-based orthopedic group and subsequently converted it into the first orthopedic specialty hospital in the state. “Basically my personal view of the surgery centers I’ve been involved with has been an extension of the physician’s office,” he says. “The ability to provide seamless care to patients, see them in the office, take care of them in the surgery center, and restore them to activities is very rewarding. Patients have very much appreciated the ease of care that they receive in surgery centers.” —K.E.

Gayle R. Evans, RN, MBA, CNOR, CASC

“Surgery has always been my professional career and always my love,” says Gayle R. Evans, RN, MBA, CNOR, CASC. Evans’ passion spans more than 25 years of multi-specialty surgery experience.

In 1994, Evans began consulting and in 1997 she founded Continuum Healthcare Consultants Inc., a firm that specializes in the planning, development, and operation of ambulatory surgery centers. Her business later expanded to include Quality Surgery Centers in 2004, and in 2005, she launched ASC-Resources.com.

“To me, ambulatory surgery is all about quality,” she says. That quality is amply recognized in her expert development of ambulatory care facilities, networks, and physician groups.

“You’re only as successful as your last project,” she says. “I think the hands-on experience is what has truly made me what I am today. I still like going in and flipping a suture every now and then.”

Evans also founded the Georgia Society of Ambulatory Surgery Centers, where she is still an active board member. “It’s a society that has grown every year,” she says proudly. “We have had a very successful society, both legislatively and in membership participation.”

Evans says the outlook of the industry’s future is exhilarating. “I think there is an exciting future for the ASC world. I think there is going to be continued growth and I see ASCs sustaining. I am terribly excited!” — J.S.

Kim L. Fisher, MHA

Kim Fisher, MHA, regional director at National Surgical Care, attributes much of her success in the industry to mentors. “I just genuinely have had some very helpful people along the way who were willing to share their information and if you showed aptitude and a willingness to jump in there and work, they made sure you got the opportunity and recognition.”

Previously in her career with HealthSouth, Fisher had the opportunity to become an administrator, and chose to go to an ASC that would present her with a challenge. “I purposely chose a center that was struggling and was able to make some changes and get some doctors in there and turn that center around, at least for a time,” she recalls. “That was much more of a learning experience than just walking into a place that’s already doing well and already set up well. That, for me, was much more valuable in the long run.”

In her current role, Fisher seeks to help guide administrators and surgery centers to success, a task that she says requires careful evaluation of the unique circumstances involved. “They’re all in different markets and all have different challenges; some of them have a large number of physicians, some may only have three, so you have to know your market and customize your approach to every center. Nobody’s the same.” — K.E.

William J. Fishkind, MD

A pioneer in his field, William Fishkind, MD, president of the Outpatient Ophthalmic Surgery Society (OOSS), is driven by the pursuit of perfection. “My personal choice is, every day when I walk into my office, whether it’s to see patients or to perform surgery, is to strive for excellence. That drives me to incorporate in my office practice as well as in my surgical practice, state-of-the-art procedures and instrumentation to try and reach that goal.”

This philosophy led Fishkind to his decision to build an ASC in 1985. “I decided that I wanted to build a premier ophthalmology ambulatory center in Tucson to provide the population of Tucson with state of the art cataract surgery,” he says.

Fishkind has been a part of OOSS since his center was built, and has become more involved over time, becoming a board member and eventually assuming the Society’s presidency.

“OOSS provides a forum for learning from our colleagues about how to be more efficient in the management of our ambulatory centers,” Fishkind explains. Additionally, he says OOSS is introducing legislation to clarify and broaden the procedure list for ASCs, and to simplify and clarify remuneration issues.

This spirit of community and collaboration is evident in how Fishkind has approached his work. “In my personal career one of the things I’ve tried to do is become a teacher, and I have endeavored to teach my colleagues new procedures and technology as it’s come along, so as I have developed procedure technology, I’ve tried to immediately take that to my colleagues so they can use it to improve the quality of what they do.” —K.E.

Jeffrey Fox

Jeffrey Fox, senior vice president at CIT Healthcare, explains that his philosophy in lending involves considering the unique circumstances surrounding each situation and client. “I go to market as a consultant, as someone listening to the market,” he says. “I think at the end of the day, the successes were simply because we probably did more listening than talking, and we were always willing to try and educate physicians and not just trying to sell them things.”

Fox got his start in healthcare lending with Copelco Capital in 1995, and also spent time at CitiCapital before joining CIT. “I felt that there wasn’t a single lender who really was able to touch the broad scope of needs in the market, and here at CIT we’re not only lending on the project level, but we’re also lending money to the developers on a corporate level, so we’re doing real estate and accounts receivable, ABL lending, and we’re doing investment banking for our customers on a limited basis,” he says. “We’re also doing good old-fashioned project finance.”

Fox says an important component of his work involves advising potential customers as to what the best financing option is, even if it’s with the local bank. “I still think that trying to sell people money is a tough sell vs. trying to help them get the right financing, whether it’s with us or another lender.” — K.E.

Ann Geier, RN, MS, CNOR, CASC

Ann Geier, RN, MS, CNOR, CASC, vice president of operations at Ambulatory Surgery Centers of America (ASCOA), has used hard work and a steadfast dedication to excellence to propel herself to her current position. Starting out as a nurse who “fell into” working in surgery in 1975, Geier was approached by a hospital to take over their new outpatient department 10 years later and hasn’t looked back since. True to her roots, Geier has remained actively involved in and supportive of Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses (AORN) throughout her career.

In 1991, Geier began work in her first freestanding outpatient surgical center. “I was the nurse manager, then I was the administrator, then I was the COO, and I was there for 13 years,” she notes. Around this time, Geier also became active in her state ambulatory surgery society, and served as president for several years.

In 1999, she was asked to chair AAASC’s annual meeting, which exposed her to a much broader network of ASC professionals. “That was probably the pivotal point in my career where all the sudden I went from a state player to knowing people on the national level.”

In 2002, Geier formed Progressive Surgical Solutions with Regina Boore. “I’d been asked frequently to help people do some projects, so she and I had a company that dealt with freestanding centers — we did development, we taught their staff, whatever needed to be done with surgical services in ASCs, we did that.” She joined ASCOA in 2004 and continues to devote herself to ASC development and management. — K.E.

Robert Goldstein, MD

Robert Goldstein, MD, is a practicing board-certified anesthesiologist and executive vice president and chief medical officer of Somnia, Inc. Goldstein launched Somnia with business partner Marc Koch, MD, MBA, with the vision of revamping outpatient surgery. “We just felt it was an area of surgical care and anesthesia care that deserved our attention,” Goldstein says. “We thought there was a real deficiency of safety standards and accreditation standards in both the ASC and office-based surgical settings. We really felt it was important to create an entity that could be out there to uphold standards of care and implement standards of care where standards don’t exist.”

Goldstein’s personal achievements “are really those of Somnia,” he says. Some key highlights include the development of a standalone quality assurance program, their work as advocates for patient safety issues, and the fact that he and Koch have worked hard to establish Somnia with a strong reputation around the country as a leader in the ambulatory surgery environment, he says.

Goldstein is a member of American Society of Anesthesiologists and the New York State Society of Anesthesiology. He also has applied to participate with the FDA’s Anesthetic and Life Support Drugs Advisory Committee, and is active with Anesthesiologists for the Safe Administration of Propofol (ASAP).

“This is a wonderful industry that I really think is going to continue to grow as long as we continue to keep an eye on patient safety and we make sure that the patients come first,” he concludes. — J.S.

Robert S. Goodman, MBA, CHE

A love for and belief in the surgery center industry motivates Robert Goodman, MBA, CHE, managing partner and founder of The Mansfield Group, a consulting and advisory firm for the outpatient market. “It’s a great place to see how the balance can really work between the provision of healthcare and the business of healthcare,” he says. “That can take into account physician and hospital economic interests and it allows that to happen in a productive way that’s good for patients, the third-party insurers, and it can be good for the physicians and the hospitals, as well as the community.”

In 1992, Goodman was asked to consider joining Copelco Capital, thus beginning his involvement with the industry. “I put together a strategic plan for them to get into the business of financing outpatient centers, and one of the targeted markets I defined back then was the ambulatory surgery center market.”

Goodman attributes his success with Copelco to understanding the basic motivation of physicians wanting to control things for themselves. “I understood that, and I understood the value of outpatient services — by the time I reached Copelco and started getting more into the surgery center market, I’d already been in the outpatient market for about four years.”

Part of this understanding came from his experience as a senior-level administrator at a 600-bed Philadelphia area hospital. “We created, on campus in a separate medical office building, an outpatient surgery center. I was responsible for overseeing that, and again I saw the value of outpatient services and of processing patients differently.” — K.E.

James T. Grant

James “Jim” T. Grant spent 25 years in hospital administration. He says he grew weary of the administrative “bullying” of physicians and set out to explore more inclusive horizons. In 1999, he co-founded National Surgical Hospitals (NSH) where he currently serves as chief operating officer. One of NSH’s key components is advocating physician involvement.

“I think physician-partnering and involving physicians in the ongoing development and leadership of any facility is the way that healthcare should be delivered now and forever more,” Grant says. “We kind of lost our way, but I think the physicians now are realizing, as are enlightened administrators, that patient care improves as physicians become more involved in the leadership of their centers. That is why I am so excited about the future of our industry and our method of providing patient care because we are reengaging doctors.”

Shortly after developing NSH, Grant, along with others, recognized the need for industry presence on Capitol Hill and actively pursued the birth of the American Surgical Hospital Association (ASHA), of which he currently serves as president.

“I am very pleased and proud of the fact — as one of the founding members of ASHA — that we have carried our message so effectively to Congress,” he affirms. “I’m proud of how our industry has come together and defended not only our concept of the way we deliver care, but how well we have been able to articulate our concerns. The way we have coalesced as a team to impress upon Congress the importance of our industry — against some very, very daunting odds — has been incredible.

“I’m really pleased to be serving as association president at this critical point in our industry’s history and I am blessed to have a very engaged membership to carry our message. It’s an honor to represent a group that is of such high quality.” — J.S.

Sandra Jones, CASC, FHFMA, LHRM

One of the first to be certified in ASC administration by the Board of Ambulatory Surgery Certification, Sandra Jones, CASC, FHFMA, DABQAURP, LHRM, has walked an impressive path through the ASC community. With nearly 30 years of experience in healthcare management, Jones developed her own company — a regulatory compliance, quality improvement, and risk management firm for surgery centers called Ambulatory Strategies Inc. She also serves as principal, director of management services, and development consultant, with Woodrum/Ambulatory Systems Development.

Jones currently serves as president of the surgery center group of the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA); she is an accreditation surveyor with the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC), and is a member of the Federation of Ambulatory Surgery Association (FASA) board. She is a diplomate with the American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physicians, Certified Health Care Quality Professional (CHCQP) and a member, programs speaker, and publications contributor for the Florida Society of Ambulatory Surgical Centers.

Jones says she holds the most pride in her ability in establishing profitable ASCs. She aids her client centers in acquiring accreditation and offers advice and coaching on day-to-day operations to help them to remain successful.

“I think (the ASC industry) is going to continue to present challenges,” she says. “We have shown how we can deliver cost-effective, safe patient care. I think it will be a challenge for freestanding surgery centers to continue to educate legislators and the public about fair reimbursement and safety.” — J.S.

Naomi Kuznets, PhD

As director of the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) Institute for Quality Improvement, Naomi Kuznets, PhD, is motivated by a constant curiosity and interest in improving quality and outcomes. “The philosophy is usually one of questioning and interest,” she says. “How does ambulatory surgery work? What’s important, and what can contribute to good outcomes, both for patients and for surgery centers, in terms of their ability to keep doing their work and doing it well?”

A significant component of this effort involves the collection and analysis of data from a growing number of studies that the Institute conducts. “We now have five years’ worth of data under our belt for our cataract and knee studies, and we’re about to go through our fifth year for our colonoscopy studies, so those are very exciting for us,” Kuznets says. She also notes that the Institute has completed its first “non-clinical” studies. “These are studies that focus primarily on administrative and financial issues, and I think it’s the first time anyone’s really collected information specific to procedures — specific to cataracts, specific to colonoscopy, for example — and they’ve done it in real time in our study.”

The Institute is also focusing on ways to help patients be more active in their own care and make their ASC experience more positive. “We’re actually collecting more and more information that we think patients might be interested in to help get them educated so they’re ready to go into the surgery center and know what to expect, and that way they can be better patients.” — K.E.

Scott T. Macomber

Scott T. Macomber has an extensive background of highly successful financial management spanning various healthcare related fields. His first direct taste of the ASC industry came in October of 2001 when he joined the NovaMed team as executive vice president and chief financial officer; overseeing NovaMed’s financial management, treasury, and reporting functions. Upon his arrival, Macomber helped NovaMed divest its physician practice management business to allow the company to focus on its core business of owning and operating ASCs. He has helped to improve the balance sheet of the company, and obtain an attractive credit facility that provides NovaMed with capital to continue to fund its growth, he says.

NovaMed has seen significant growth since its decision to focus on its ASC business and now owns interest in 27 surgery centers across 14 states.

“Generally, I think the demographics are very compelling for the surgery center business,” says Macomber. “The aging baby boomers, by just their sheer numbers, will cause an increase in the number of surgery procedures performed each year. Their desire to maintain active lifestyles will mean they are more inclined to have elective surgeries and we expect that ASCs will capture a great deal of these procedures.” — J.S.

Mark Mayo

In 1986, Mark Mayo began his ASC career as a consultant in developing a joint venture surgery center between a group of physicians and an area hospital. In 1987, he consulted with another group of physicians which led to a full-time position at Valley Ambulatory Surgery Center (VASC), located in St. Charles, Ill., where he still serves as administrator. VASC is a seven-OR surgery center and a nine-bed post-surgical recovery care center. VASC also is one of only four post-surgical recovery care centers licensed by the state of Illinois.

In addition to running VASC, Mayo serves as executive director of the Illinois Freestanding Surgery Center Association — which he helped establish in 1988 — he also is the board secretary of the American Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers (AAASC) board of directors and is a member of the Administrators Credentialing Board associated with the Federated Ambulatory Surgery Association (FASA).

Mayo says his 10 years as a registered lobbyist in Illinois and his health planning background has helped to set the groundwork for his successes in the ASC field, and he continues to help others in establishing their own state or regional associations.

“That’s the thing I have focused on a lot and I have enjoyed it,” he says. “I believe I have benefited from those pioneers that blazed the trail and I feel an obligation to continue their work. Anybody who is passionate about what they do needs to get involved.” — J.S.

Rob McCarville, MPA

Rob McCarville, MPA, is a pivotal figure at Springfield, Mo.-based Medical Consulting Group (MCG) in the planning, development, and management of ambulatory surgery centers, as well as in establishing strategic business initiatives and operational improvement plans for medical practices.

“It’s very satisfying helping surgeons put together a new ASC project because you realize it’s going to be a win for everyone involved; excellent outcomes and high satisfaction for patients, dollar savings for payors, and efficiency and an ancillary income stream for the surgeons.” he says.

McCarville primarily focuses on the initial business planning for new ASCs and then provides effective management strategies for operating centers. As a consultant, McCarville prides himself in his ability to achieve collaboration amongst surgeons, the community, hospitals, and payors in these projects.

MCG currently has 15 ASC projects in various development stages — with single, multi-specialty, and hospital joint ventures in the mix. “I was able to come in and build upon our firm’s strong reputation and help grow our ASC service line,” McCarville says. “I think groups around the country appreciate our commitment to service, our willingness to provide customized working relationships, and our ability to provide support in other areas such as marketing/advertising or equity contribution.”

In addition, McCarville has helped MCG become committed to such industry organizations such as the American Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers (AAASC), Federated Ambulatory Surgery Association (FASA), and Outpatient Ophthalmic Surgery Society (OOSS), and personally remains involved with numerous industry meetings, events, and speaking engagements. — J.S.

Click here to view Previous Who’s Who Awardees 2004

Click here to view Previous Who's Who Awardees 2003

Dawn Q. McLane-Kinzie RN, MSA, CASC, CNOR

Dawn McLane-Kinzie, RN, MSA, CASC, CNOR, vice president of operations at National Surgical Care, got her start in the ASC industry by working with Aspen Healthcare to help get RiverPointe Surgery Center in Elkhart, Ind. up and running in 1996. “This was a new start-up — it was a joint venture between physicians and the hospital, and we had about a year when I was hired to put the project together, and they said here’s an office and here’s your desk,” she recalls.

RiverPointe turned out to be a wonderfully successful center, and it wasn’t long before McLane-Kinzie’s services were again in demand, this time in nearby South Bend, Ind. for a large, wholly physician-owned center. “They were pouring concrete the day I started,” she says. “We got done and opened for the first case on Feb. 14, 2000 and they were extremely successful — when I left they were doing 1,000 cases per month; 40 percent of that was orthopedic. It was a very successful center, and still is.”

McLane-Kinzie officially joined Aspen Healthcare in August 2004 and has continued to devote herself to developing and managing surgery centers. She is also committed to promoting education in her role as a surveyor for the Accreditation Association of Ambulatory Healthcare (AAAHC) and as an author, as evidenced by her book, Scheduling Strategies for Ambulatory Surgery Centers. Development remains her true passion, however. “I’m a big believer in ASCs and how they can contribute to the community,” she says. “It’s a wonderful feeling to be able to do that first case and to have helped start something new and made it a success for that group you’re working with.” — K.E.

Douglas C. Palzer, MBA

Douglas C. Palzer, MBA, is founder, president and chief executive officer of seven companies in the greater Kansas City area. He is manager of Weight Loss Surgical Centers, LLC, a bariatric surgical practice, and is owner and chief executive officer of Weight Loss Healthcare Centers of America (WLHCA). WLHCA, located in Overland Park, Kansas, was built exclusively to meet the needs of bariatric patients in a fourstate region. The center specializes in the Lap-Band® adjustable gastric banding system and anticipates performing 3,000 to 3,900 bariatric surgeries in 2006.

Palzer also has physician offices in Wichita, Kansas and Springfield, Mo., and will be expanding to Omaha, Neb. and Des Moines, Iowa by spring 2006.

“Obesity is a nationwide epidemic and the needs of the obese population are currently not being met in our hospitals and surgical centers,” Palzer points out. As a result, he says his bariatric business “has taken off like a rocket.”

“Working with obese patients is the most rewarding experience in my life. I see these patients come in here every month for their follow- ups and I see the type of weight loss that they are achieving — safely — and I see how it is changing their lives. I have patients tell me that we literally saved their life. I can’t think of anything more rewarding than that.” — J.S.

Mike Pankey, RN, MBA

Mike Pankey, RN, MBA, transitioned to the surgery center side in 2000; he had left the OR after 10 years to earn his masters in business administration. A physician who regretted losing Pankey from the OR offered him a position as an ASC administrator during the day while Pankey pursued his advanced degree at night.

Pankey, who had been working in Florida, was then offered the chance to be an administrator for the new Ambulatory Surgery Center of Spartanburg in South Carolina. “I opened the surgery center the week of finals; I had my Medicare inspection on Tuesday, and then Saturday, I flew to Fort Myers to take the final,” he recalls.

Cost containment is one of his hallmarks; the new facility had transferred $300,000 in inventory from an existing hospital outpatient department, but it now sits at $195,000. “Our costs per case on day one — utilizing existing packs from the hospital side, and existing suppliers and contracts — were averaging $380, and we’re now down to $298. The result of that is a higher profit margin, which means more cash flow, which means higher distributions. We benchmark ourselves financially, and we’re up there with the top national corporate HVAs of the world, and the HealthSouths as far as our profit margin,” Pankey adds.

The surgery center is a joint venture with Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, and was so successful that the system built another, the Surgery Center at Pelham (see page 33). At the beginning of the joint venture, he says, “They thought they would lose 50 percent of revenue, having to split with the physicians, as they were getting 100 percent of the revenue before. In year one, they lost only 10 percent of the revenue they would have gained if they stayed where they were, and by year two, they were more than breaking even.”

Pankey outsources many of the ASC’s services through the health system, such as facility services, medical staff services, and information systems (IS) services. “The hospital has an IS department that I could never afford in a small center like this. I’m an outsourcer by nature; I try to focus on my core business, which is customer service and quality patient care. Anything else I outsource,” he says. — K.D.

Donna Slosburg, BSN, LHRM, CASC

“The one thing that makes me very passionate is that I absolutely believe in what we do,” says Donna Slosburg, BSN, LHRM, CASC, senior vice president of surgery operations at HealthSouth Corporation. “I think surgery centers are the best places for patients to come because we have quality clinicians.”

Slosburg began her career as an ICU nurse in a community hospital. After coming to HealthSouth in 1992 as a nurse manager, she worked her way to the administrator level, followed by regional positions, and eventually senior vice president. She credits others for helping her along the way. “The people I worked with were great mentors and opened doors that went beyond all my expectations.”

Slosburg received a Special Achievement Award for Clinical Excellence in 2000 from HealthSouth, and was honored to serve as president of the Florida Society of Ambulatory Surgery Centers from 2002 to 2004.

“The one piece that I think continually helps me is being a nurse and having a clinical background and having been there in the OR,” she says. “That’s valuable when I talk to physicians or senior management because I’ve now been on both sides and I can always push and make sure that clinical bar is always raised, that we’re always taking the very best care of patients. That’s kind of what I hope that I’ve accomplished.” — K.E.

William G. Southwick

William “Bill” G. Southwick, president and chief executive officer of Nashville, Tenn.-based Health-Mark Partners, LLC (HMP) says he decided to buck the trend when he transitioned his company from a physician practice management (PPM) business to focus on ASC turnaround strategies and build creative joint-venture structures primarily in the state of Tennessee — a certificate of need state.

“We’ve had a good run of it where we have been able to generate a very good reputation as a strong operator and great partner for physicians and hospitals,” he says. “One thing we’re really proud of is that a lot of our opportunities in the state of Tennessee have come via word of mouth. So we think we’ve taken a business that is mostly built on relationships, and proved that those relationships are sound. As a result, we now have six centers operational, in Tennessee, with an additional one about to go under construction.”

HMP also has centers located in Maryland, California, and soon Arizona, and has partnered with well over 100 physicians, Southwick says.

“The relationships we created on the PPM side have carried over to the surgery center side. We tended to believe then, on the PPM side, that it was a relationship business and we continue to believe that today in the surgery center business. We are proud of the fact that we actually had relationships that were strong enough to be carried into a facility-related relationship with these same physicians. With a lot of them, that was the genesis of the company. From that point on we have been on our core strengths and grown the company.”

Prior to joining HMP, Southwick formed Southwick Financial Associates, which through merger managed $100 million-plus in client assets prior to sale. — J.S.

Barry Tanner and John Poisson

Over the past several years, a unique Doylestown, Pa.-based company focused on the development and management of single-specialty endoscopic ambulatory surgery centers has experienced strong and steady growth. Guided by the talents of Barry Tanner, serving as chief executive officer, and John Poisson, serving as executive vice president, Physicians Endoscopy has grown to 13 facilities that will be operational by the middle of 2006. “We’ve enjoyed a rewarding period of solid growth, much of which is attributable to the strong support of our partnered physicians,” Tanner says. The company currently has more than 150 physician partners across their nationwide facilities.

“Part of our physician support relates to the stellar performance within each of the operating centers,” says Poisson. “By any measure of success, whether clinical, operational or financial, the PE-partnered centers have achieved performance metrics well in excess of industry norms. For example, in a recent benchmarking study within 24 endoscopy centers, the PEpartnered centers experienced a 33 percent reduction in the use of reversal agents and a 27 percent lower perforation rate during colonoscopy procedures,” Tanner reports. Poisson notes, “We’ve also enjoyed that every new center opened in the past five years has become profitable within 90 days of commencing operations.”

On a national basis, Tanner and Poisson are active members within FASA and AAASC. On a more localized approach, each share different but complementary passions. “Over the past few years, I’ve worked to instill a culture of customer service excellence within each of our partnered facilities. I believe that a documented top notch customer service program, aligned with measurable superior clinical performance, will differentiate ASCs across a broad spectrum within the marketplace including improved reimbursement from third party payers,” Tanner says. Poisson comments, “In addition, ensuring that each of our partnered facilities is a good corporate citizen within their local community is a cornerstone of our overall business philosophy. It’s important to provide patient education outreach programs, as well as perform reasonable levels of charitable care — each ASC should give back to their community.”

Both Tanner and Poisson are enthusiastic about the future of the ASC industry. “Looking back on the life cycle of the ASC marketplace, it really has been dynamic, and I think as time goes on, we will continue to reinvent ourselves,” Poisson states. Tanner adds, “In my view, the golden age of the ASC market has yet to come. We look forward to playing a small role in the future of the industry.”

Jane Thilo MD, MS

Jane Thilo, MD, MS, is fueled by a passion for promoting leadership, particularly for physicians. “My philosophy around physician leadership is that for a lot of physicians, we don’t think of ourselves as leaders and we don’t get any training around leadership in medical schools, so consequently we don’t really know how to be leaders,” she says. “However, we are leaders both formally through our titles and the positions we hold, like running a practice or owning a surgery center, and informally because people look up to and respect physicians and expect them to be leaders and look to them as leaders.”

After 15 years of ASC ownership and direction, Thilo started an Internet company in the mid-1990s called Surgisource to bring business resources to surgery center professionals in the industry. This led her to explore new ways in which to contribute to the industry. “I went back to graduate school in business and got an MS in management, and I really focused on strategic leadership and change management, and I wrote my thesis on a leadership model for transformative change in healthcare.”

Currently, Thilo brings this type of focus to Encompass Health, a healthcare consulting and coaching organization. “Encompass is a group I started with another colleague, and I met my associates through a coaching community. I’ve taken a lot of coach training to be an executive business coach, so we all met in that community and we have a lot of similar ideas about change management and physician leadership.” — K.E.

John T. Thomas

John T. Thomas, president, chief development officer, and business counsel, for Trophy Club, Texas-based Cirrus Health, has played an integral role in persuading legislative bodies in making necessary changes in healthcare.

Prior to joining Cirrus Health, Thomas served as senior vice president and general counsel for Baylor Health Care System. “Baylor asked me to pursue legislative changes both at the state and national levels,” he states. As a result, Thomas has been recognized for his outstanding work in changing the medical liability laws in the state of Texas.

“I’m really proud of the role I had in the Texas liability system debate and in changing those laws,” he says. “It’s something that impacts every Texan, and people’s lives will be saved because of that.”

Thomas also is co-founder and president of the Coalition for Affordable and Reliable Health Care (www.CARH.net), and has advocated at both the state and national levels in the physician ownership and specialty hospital debate.

“The future of healthcare in this country has got to include physicians being actively involved,” he says, “and you can’t do that while telling physicians ‘We can’t trust you in owning healthcare facilities.’ I think to improve quality, to improve safety, and to lower cost, you’ve got to have physicians at the table and actively involved.” — J.S.

James A. Yates, MD

As a plastic surgeon who began his practice in 1968, James Yates, MD, president of the American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities (AAAASF), found his practice hindered by high facility fees at surrounding hospitals. “It became obvious that if I wanted to continue to practice plastic surgery and aesthetic surgery, I needed to have my own facility,” he says. His quest to develop an ASC took Yates all the way to the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court, where he finally prevailed. “That was in 1984, we got our first patients in 1985 and it’s been functioning every since,” he says.

“Because there were no other outpatient surgical facilities in central Pennsylvania at the time, the Pennsylvania Department of Health didn’t know what to do with us, so they asked me if I would help them to develop standards, regulations, and so forth for outpatient surgery, which I did,” Yates continues.

Yates’ involvement with standards and regulations led him to become part of AAAASF during its infancy in the early 1980s. “I started out as a standards committee chairman for the AAAASF and rewrote their standards a few years back and then revised them, and I’ve also made a resources guide for the AAAASF.” Currently, Yates puts patient safety high on the Association’s agenda. “My philosophy is if you keep safety in mind, you can do a lot of things in ambulatory surgical facilities, but safety is the key word — you don’t try to fit the surgery to fit the location. That’s our goal with AAAASF.” — K.E.

Greg Zoch, CSAM

Greg Zoch, CSAM, is a managing partner with Kaye/Bassman International Corp., an executive search firm based in Plano, Texas. Zoch’s passion, knowledge, and industry experience has given him keen insight into the issues, trends, and motivating factors that are fundamental to the ASC business niche.

As an executive recruiter and leader of a nationwide healthcare practice focused predominantly on ASCs since 2002, Zoch is an invaluable resource for contacts and networking within the surgery center business. He works with ASC owners and operators in addressing the current talent shortage that today’s ASCs face in filling positions in their centers.

“There are just not enough people with ASC experience to operate the number of ASCs currently in operation, much less the new facilities coming online on a weekly and monthly basis,” he says. “When I first began to analyze the ASC space, what I saw rather quickly was a rapidly expanding proliferation of ASCs and very few avenues by which administrators and directors of nursing were being trained. There was, and remains, strong demand for this type of specialized talent.”

Zoch is proud of the fact that he and Kaye/Bassman have been able to address that demand and is continuing to work hard to ease the situation for his ASC clients. “We’ve helped to built some of the premier players within the ASC space by bringing them top talent,” he says proudly. And it is just that type of hard work and dedication that has made him a perennial top producer and partner with Kaye/Bassman. — J.S.

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