Future of the Industry

As consumer debt levels groan under the weight of swollen healthcare costs, ideas to remediate the problem and pull us back from an inevitable spending crisis flourish. Among them, the idea to move many procedures away from costly HOPDs and into ASCs has gained significant traction and with good reason. ASCs offer an affordable, safe,...

Dr. Raju Ghate is one of the most respected Orthopedic Surgeons in Illinois. After his successful private practice was acquired, he joined NorthShore Medical Group at the NorthShore Skokie Hospital. That facility recently transitioned into the Orthopaedic and Spine Institute, an innovative and highly-specialized hospital. Dr. Ghate recently joined us via phone to discuss the...

In 1970, two physicians bucked tradition and opened a facility offering their patients a safe, convenient, and comfortable setting for relatively simple procedures that didn’t require an overnight stay. Eschewing the expensive rigmarole attached to performing procedures in hospital operating rooms, they transformed healthcare by creating the world’s first ambulatory surgery center, moving the surgical...

We’d like to think that the two major drivers of healthcare in the U.S. are ever-advancing science and the needs of individual patients. Of course, this is a rather naïve assumption. The healthcare ecosystem is a tug-of-war between the above, but also the machinations of a byzantine and opaque system of care, the vagaries of...

It is hard to overstate the devastation wrought by the COVID pandemic. But, like all painful and tragic situations, there is something learned from such a crucible, what institutions and ideas held and what gave under pressure or revealed themselves to be illusory all along. a

So, what are the common problems facing independent physicians and private practices today, and what might be done to alleviate them while improving care and lowering costs for patients?

If you are of a certain age, think back to the first time you received your annual flu vaccination. It was likely in your pediatrician or family doctor’s office. That is just as likely no longer the case today, nor is it even the norm for most people.

“If we're going to use [the Triple Aim], we can talk about things in a way that I think physicians, insurance carriers, patients, everybody can be aligned. But what's happening right now is that definition is getting skewed to how people want it to be portrayed, given their own personal priorities or objectives.”