Health

8 HE ALTH • Fall 2019 O utpatient surgery centers benefit patients by having lower costs and avoiding a trip to a hospital campus – enough of a lure for health providers who otherwise could be seen as close competitors to join together to create one such center in Shrewsbury. The Surgery Center, which opened last May, was the work of UMass Memorial Health Care and Reliant Medical Group, two Worcester organizations otherwise fighting one another to attract both patients and the providers who treat them. Joining them was Shields Health Care Group, and together, they provided more than 2,000 operations during the $31-million center's first year. The center has nine operating rooms and upwards of 20 surgeons on staff from both UMass and Reliant, with Shields providing management of the facility. "It's three great organizations that recognized a need for high quality but at a lower cost, outside the hospital setting," said Prashanth Bala, the director of ambulatory surgery centers for Quincy-based Shields. The three collaborators downplay the competition among them, and leaders from each of the three say the partnership makes sense because surgical advancements and the way insurers reimburse for operations make these so-called ambulatory surgery centers increasingly attractive. Patients enjoy the center's convenience, and surgeons like its specific focus only on certain operations, said Dr. Sudershan Singla, the center's medical director of anesthesia services. "The reason this became an obvious wonderful opportunity for all three entities is it satisfied what's called the quadruple aim," said Dr. Leon Josephs, the chief of specialties at Reliant, referring to high quality, low costs, and benefits for both patients and providers. "So this made it easy," Josephs said. Growth aided by technology, cost Advancements in surgical procedures and anesthesia have slowly made outpatient operations more common for the better part of the last three decades, starting with more relatively minor cases like tonsillectomies or hysterectomies. Finances have played a role. Health insurers, based on government guidelines, reimburse differently if a procedure takes place on an inpatient or outpatient basis, making outpatient surgeries 40% to 50% cheaper, Bala said. ree Central Mass. healthcare providers have opened a new, mostly outpatient surgery center in Shrewsbury • By Grant Welker Cheaper & better surgeries PHOTOS/GRANT WELKER Nurse Pamela Linden and Dr. Sudershan Singla, the medical director of anes- thesia services, review a chart at the Surgery Center in Shrewsbury, which uses surgeons from UMass Memorial Health Care and Reliant Health Group, and is managed by Shields Health Care Group.

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