Choose an ASC for surgery

The Bedford Ambulatory Surgical Center (BASC) was the first ASC in NH and founded nearly 30 years ago. The goal was to move elective surgical cases from a hospital setting to an outpatient setting – resulting in great outcomes for patients, more affordable care and a better setting for surgeons to perform their cases.

Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASCs) can be found all over the country and are helping to advance technology and provide safer, more convenient surgery options for patients. The BASC was the FIRST outpatient surgical center in New Hampshire in 1993. With the addition of the Nashua Ambulatory Surgical Center (NASC) in 2012, our facilities perform more surgeries than any other healthcare system in NH.

We also are extremely transparent with our cost and quality statistics. As of 2021, BASC boasted an infection rate of less than 0.04% and had performed nearly 190,000 procedures.

ASCs continue to improve cost and quality for patients, but don’t just take our word for it. Check out this information from the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association on the positive impact of ASCs on our nation’s healthcare system. 

The following information is from the ASCA:

Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are health care facilities that offer patients the convenience of having surgeries and procedures performed safely outside the hospital setting. Since their inception more than four decades ago, ASCs have demonstrated an exceptional ability to improve quality and customer service while simultaneously reducing costs. At a time when most developments in health care services and technology typically come with a higher price tag, ASCs stand out as an exception to the rule.

A Transformative Model for Surgical Services

As our nation struggles with how to improve a troubled and costly health care system, the experience of ASCs is a great example of a successful transformation in health care delivery.

Forty years ago, virtually all surgery was performed in hospitals. Waits of weeks or months for an appointment were not uncommon, and patients typically spent several days in the hospital and several weeks out of work in recovery. In many countries, surgery is still performed this way, but not in the US. Physicians have taken the lead in the development of ASCs. The first facility was opened in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1970 by two physicians who saw an opportunity to establish a high-quality, cost-effective alternative to inpatient hospital care for surgical services. Faced with frustrations like scheduling delays, limited operating room availability, slow operating room turnover times, and challenges in obtaining new equipment due to hospital budgets and policies, physicians were looking for a better way―and developed it in ASCs. 

Today, physicians continue to provide the impetus for the development of new ASCs. By operating in ASCs instead of hospitals, physicians gain increased control over their surgical practices. In the ASC setting, physicians are able to schedule procedures more conveniently, assemble teams of specially trained and highly skilled staff, ensure that the equipment and supplies being used are best suited to their techniques, and design facilities tailored to their specialties and to the specific needs of their patients. Simply stated, physicians are striving for, and have found in ASCs, professional autonomy over their work environment and over the quality of care that has not been available to them in hospitals. These benefits explain why physicians who do not have ownership interest in an ASC (and therefore do not benefit financially from performing procedures in an ASC) choose to work in ASCs in such high numbers.

Given the history of their involvement in making ASCs a reality, it is not surprising that physicians continue to have at least some ownership in virtually all (90%) ASCs. But what is more interesting to note is how many ASCs are jointly owned by local hospitals that now increasingly recognize and embrace the value of the ASC model. According to the most recent data available, hospitals have ownership interest in 23% of all ASCs and 2% are owned entirely by hospitals.

Find the full article here: https://www.ascassociation.org/advancingsurgicalcare/aboutascs/industryoverview/apositivetrendinhealthcare