Thought Leadership

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The DocBuddy Journal - Addressing ASC Headwinds w/ Rena Courtay

By Erik Sunset, May 30, 2025 - 1 min read

"YOU NEED TO HAVE A SYSTEM IN PLACE TO MANAGE ANESTHESIA SUBSIDIES AND HAVE CONTRACTUAL LANGUAGE THAT THERE WILL BE SOME TYPE OF MAXIMUM SPEND."

Episode 102 of The DocBuddy Journal - Addressing ASC Headwinds w/ Rena Courtay

America's surgery centers are caught in a perfect storm: physician shortages that have tripled anesthesia costs, a vanishing workforce of surgical technicians, and Medicare policies so out of alignment that patients pay more for outpatient surgery than hospital procedures. We sat down with Rena Courtay, VP of Ambulatory Surgery at Trinity Health and ASCA Board officer, to unpack the physician and anesthesia shortage, why some surgery centers are scrambling to fill sterile processing jobs, and how legislators are working to modernize Medicare's copay structure.

Major insurers like United are finally pushing procedures out of expensive hospitals and into surgery centers. Plus, AI is about to revolutionize medical billing and coding in ways that could save the industry billions.

Connect with Rena on LinkedIn.

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