Smith+Nephew Reveals ‘Positive Connections’ ASC Strategy

Smith+Nephew announced ‘Positive Connections’, a turnkey service to support healthcare providers seeking to offer increased access for orthopedic cases to Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs) and other outpatient settings.
 
Recent developments in surgical technology, anesthesia protocols, and changes to Medicare reimbursement are triggering an upsurge in demand from providers to deliver orthopedic procedures in outpatient settings, such as ASCs.
 
In such settings, suitable patients are admitted, operated on and discharged on the same day, and receive the majority of their post-acute care at home. The model brings advantages to both the patient and healthcare provider, including the patient recovering in the comfort of their home, the surgeon having greater control over the surgical setting and pre- and post-acute care, and, for both parties, lower overhead costs.^1,2 With the gradual growth of ASCs in the US, those facilities now rival the number of hospitals currently operating across the country.³ 
 
According to a recently released study by Bain & Company, the share of hip and knee replacements performed in ASCs will grow from 9 to 25 percent and 10 to 30 percent respectively by the mid-2020s. The same report indicated the shift of case volume to ASCs is already saving the US healthcare system an estimated $40 billion annually.⁴
 
Smith+Nephew’s Positive Connections offering will include a team of regional concierge business directors who support customers seeking to create an outpatient surgery program or improve their existing offering.
 
It will also offer team training for healthcare providers wanting to learn how to manage same-day total joint replacement surgery for maximum efficiency and patient satisfaction. This includes guiding physician-owners of ASCs how to build their team including administrators, anesthesiologists and operating room staff.
 
Positive Connections customers will be able to utilize a cloud-based application that assists surgeons with patient selection and optimization for the ASC setting and provides care management pathways, patient education and engagement assets, and outcomes reporting tools.
 
This application is based upon two newly completed technology acquisitions:
 
MiJourney, a patient management software company based in Pittsburgh, US, that enables coordination across the entire episode of care by administrators, physicians, and patients.
The asset purchase of a proprietary outpatient selection algorithm and ASC total joint replacement care pathway from Rapid Recovery Pathways, LLC.
 
“After listening to surgeons across the country, it is evident that there is an increased demand for suitable orthopedic procedures to be performed in surgery centers and hospital outpatient departments,” said Skip Kiil, president, Global Orthopaedics at Smith+Nephew. “We’ve created a program in Positive Connections that will support this demand by combining emerging technologies and value-driven solutions with a differentiated product portfolio.”
 
Smith+Nephew is uniquely well-positioned to assist healthcare providers to make the transition to offering outpatient orthopedic surgery, and is an established leader in the ASC space through its Sports Medicine franchise.
 
Moreover, Smith+Nephew is a leader in orthopedic implants and enabling technologies designed to streamline and improve the clinical process. These include its robotics-assisted NAVIO Surgical System, which is low-footprint, portable and CT-free—features desired by most ASCs.
 
References
¹ Badlani N. Ambulatory surgery center ownership models. J Spine Surg. 2019;5(Suppl 2):S195–S203. doi:10.21037/jss.2019.04.20
² Advancing Surgical Care: ASCs: A Positive Trend in Health Care. Available at: http://bit.ly/3c6XjXM. Accessed February 11, 2020.
³ Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. ASC Lookup Tool Dataset with Location. Available at: http://bit.ly/2Viw4DD. Accessed January 15, 2020.
⁴ Bain & Company: Ambulatory Surgery Center Growth Accelerates: Is Medtech Ready? Tim van Biesen and Todd Johnson, Sept 2019.