Optimizing Surgeries with Advancements in Ambulatory Surgical Centers

Ryan Aldridge has over 15 years of experience driving revenue and enterprise growth with an emphasis on business development, healthcare sales, territory management, strategic market growth, contract negotiation, client relationship development and and medical technology.

Please tell us about the journey that you've had so far and your roles and responsibilities at Atlas Healthcare Partners.

I began my career in med-technology with Medtronic in 2009 focusing on neuromodulation and worked with spine, pain and orthopedic surgeons. However, I kept pursuing my studies and completed master's in business administration in 2017. During this timeframe I noticed……of the ambulatory surgery center (ASC) industry with of the increase of outpatient surgeries. In 2018, a group of people launching a company hired me to lead their physician sales team. Currently, I am the senior vice president of strategy and growth for Atlas Healthcare Partners, where I lead new business growth through health system joint ventures. In addition, I supervise the team that collaborates with new surgeons to introduce new service lines and technologies to the surgery centers. I also work on strategic growth and planning and collaborate with chief strategy officers in health systems to help develop their outpatient service line strategies and creating a network of value-based care surgery centers for population healthcare. Our company engages with surgeons and surgery center leadership, focusing on the technology trends to drive increased volume growth.

What are the recent trends you are currently witnessing in the ASC space?

Technology in the ASC and outpatient surgery space is emerging rapidly in primary areas such as cardiovascular, spine and orthopedics. Cardiovascular procedures are gaining approval for peripheral coronary intervention (PCI), using stenting and intravenous ultrasound (IVUS).

“Healthcare faces rapid digital transformation with AI and augmented reality, necessitating businesses to adapt and embrace community-based healthcare for long-term success.”

Orthopedics is seeing a surge in custom measurements and robotics to move total joint procedures completely out of the hospitals into the surgery centers. Better technology and devices, such as Stryker's Mako robot are enabling these advances in the ASC space.

Minimally invasive spine procedures are gaining popularity as an alternative to lumbar fusion surgery in the spine. There are a few firms out there doing it right now, such as Boston Scientific's Vertiflex technique.

It is a minimally invasive decompression procedure and is an alternative fusion procedure to traditional orthopedic lumbar procedures. These technologies enable cases to move out of hospitals and into surgical centers, providing patients with more predictable surgery duration and preventing them away from contracting diseases from others if they underwent surgery in a hospital.

Technology is the catalyst in the vehicle that is allowing these surgeries that were traditionally performed in hospitals to be performed in the ASC. As a result, there's a clear migration and redistribution of value, revenue, and expenditures in healthcare from hospitals to surgery centers.

How do you see the ASC space evolve in the next few years?

I believe that surgery, like other medications, will continue to advance. Traditionally, healthcare has been about patients and clinicians travelling to their healthcare facilities. ASCs benefit both physicians and patients by eliminating the need to travel to hospitals ad risk getting sick while also allowing them to have their surgeries closer to their homes with family members present.

The expansion of ambulatory service lines and ASCs will shift the healthcare delivery enterprise closer to the patient community. Clinics will be located closer to patient population centers, resulting in greater convenience and overall patient satisfaction. This also contributes to lower costs, right surgeons, cutting-edge technology and improved quality, which is the quadruple aim of healthcare.

The technology, general understanding, and education of surgeons allow quality to be maintained. Finally, because it is a value-based service, we are decreasing and bending the overall cost curve, and it is the rapidly developing technology for minimally invasive procedures across all service lines that is allowing us to do so. As a result, they anticipate more single-specialty or limited-specialty surgery centers that treat the continuum of treatment for a disease condition for a specific patient population. These will foster ecosystems of like-minded professionals in each region, allowing patients to be served where they reside.

What would be a piece of advice for your peers and aspiring professionals in the industry?

Healthcare is rapidly changing due to digital technology like AI and augmented reality. It's crucial for businesses to adapt and embrace this change, as fighting against it may lead to cannibalization by new market entrants. Embracing this shift from hospitals to community-based healthcare can be painful in the short term but will set businesses up for long-term success.