Solo eye MD ASC

[clayito]

Wondering if anyone on here has experience/knowledge of the minimum surgical volume needed for a single provider (one eye MD) ASC to be profitable. I realize most people will initially say "it depends", but assuming overhead can be kept fairly low (by using clinic staff to help staff the ASC on surgery days, negotiating pack prices/components and lens costs, keeping building size/square footage to a minimum) and I'm mainly doing cataracts (500-600 cataracts a year plus likely putting an SLT in a procedure room) in a rural area, would building a one OR plus procedure/laser room ASC be reasonable?

Any input is appreciated.

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[90 diopter]

I know a practice with a successful one man ASC. He does about 40 cataracts a week and seems to do fine.

 

[ophthope]

He does about 40 cataracts a week and seems to do fine.

Sweet mother I bet he does, but most of us peons won't do 40/wk. So with one data point, a solo ASC is possible if you're a high volume cataract surgeon.

 

[clayito]

Yeah, 40/week is crazy high volume - approximately 1800 cataracts per year assuming a few weeks of vacation. No doubt a one person ASC could do well with that volume. I'm wondering what the volume breakover point is, though, i.e., at approximately what volume does it become worth the huge investment to build your own ASC as a solo eye MD.

 

[clayito]

I've been doing some research (to answer my own question above), and it looks like 50-55 cases/month is the absolute minimum to be successful. 60-70 cases/month is really more ideal, and with the likely continued cutbacks we will see in reimbursement in the coming years, probably want >70/month in the future to be safe if considering your own ASC.

Here's a nice article quoting Pinto and others regarding eye ASCs: http://www.ophthalmologymanagement.com/articleviewer.aspx?articleID=106716