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BUSINESS ADVISOR
tions within the community. Both sides acknowledged the other's
exceptional care. We examined the business side and found there wasn't as much overlap as you might typically find with 2 multi-specialty
centers that are so close and considering merging. We didn't see any
major obstacles to prevent serious consideration, and now here we
are: on the brink of merger. Here are the benefits competing surgical
centers could reap from such an arrangement, along with some strategies for handling the challenges that might develop.
The advantages
Merging operations under a single roof provides automatic efficiencies while expanding the breadth of services and economies of scale,
with a focus on orthopedics. The combined center's case volumes will
be approximately double the individual facilities' volumes, landing in
the 600- to 800-per-month range.
• Savings on physical space. The immediate savings that will occur
come from not having to pay rent in 2 locations. SCSM's 5 ORs and 2
procedure rooms will be able to accommodate its surgeons and those
from SCP, which has 2 ORs and 1 procedure room. On the west side
of Los Angeles, where rent is not cheap, this is a huge material savings.
• Supply cost and employee benefits. Because SCA is a national company with its own GPO, we anticipate additional savings by scaling up
with supply purchases and employee benefits packages. Those will be
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O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | N O V E M B E R 2012
