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OSE_1309_part2_Layout 1 9/6/13 3:26 PM Page 60 2013 Awards whelmed, other entrepreneurs will realize there is a market for what we've done, and others will step up and do it, too." It's something the center may face soon. Self-insured companies are a potentially huge source of business and Dr. Smith has spoken to both the Society of Professional Benefit Administrators and the SelfInsured Institute of America. "Those people are very, very excited about sending their employees from all over the United States here to take advantage of this pricing," he says. "If you own a company in Wichita, Kansas, and you see that our prices are a tenth of what you'd pay at a hospital there, you incentivize employees to come down here. That's what they're all doing — saying: If you go to the surgery center in Oklahoma, we'll pay the whole thing. We'll pay your travel, your mileage if you're driving, the whole thing." Unexpected ally A few facilities nationwide are following the center's lead, or at least weighing their options. "With the 'un-Affordable' Care Act right around the corner," Dr. Smith says wryly, "a lot of doctors are scared. They're thinking, man, something's gotta give. What are we gonna do? Or this freight train is just gonna run over us. The vast majority of physicians are very excited and supportive of what we're doing — all over the country." The biggest potential hurdles? "Not having an active medical director who is also an owner, an operator," says Dr. Smith. "I think any center that doesn't have an anesthesiologist running it is probably at a disadvantage. I have conversations with surgeons here that I think would be very difficult for a non-physician to have. I'll say: You maybe need to reconsider this part of your routine. Here are what 6 of your competitors who work in this facility do and it's more efficient and more cost-effective. I'm an anesthesiologist and Dr. Lantier is, too, and 6 0 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 | S E P T E M B E R 2013