Believed to be Colorado's first dual-licensed ASC, the Functional
Neurosurgical Ambulatory Surgical Center hosted its first case on
April 15. It's open on the first and third Friday of the month. It occu-
pies the same space as the host center lessor, the Highline South
Surgical Center, which is open for all but the first and third Friday of
the month.
How can a surgery center subsist when it's only open 2 days a
month? Neurosurgeon David VanSickle, MD, PhD, performs highly
profitable deep brain stimulation for patients with Parkinson's dis-
ease, dystonia, essential tremor and severe obsessive-compulsive dis-
order. He begins the two-part surgical procedure at Littleton Adventist
Hospital, a 51% partner in the joint venture. There, patients are anes-
thetized while a CT scan and robotic guidance identify where to place
2 electrical devices to slow too-rapid brain activity. One week later,
the patient undergoes a brief — 1 hour or less — procedure at the
ASC to insert a small battery-powered generator similar to a pacemak-
er into his chest. Dr. VanSickle needs to do only 8 cases to recoup his
investment, which he expects to do after 3 months.
The Functional Neurosurgical ASC cost $465,000 to develop, includ-
ing the developer's consulting fees, state licensure fees, and the pur-
chase of equipment and supplies. It costs around $3 million to develop
a 1-OR, single-specialty ASC and up to $10 million to build a 5-OR facil-
ity, says Ms. Kirchner. "Compare that to roughly $500,000," she adds.
Development time for a dual-licensed timeshare is also a lot shorter:
roughly 12 months compared to 18 to 24 months to build a de novo
center.
Filling empty ORs
The timeshare model is also working well in St. Louis, Mo., where a
pain management physician leases a plastic surgeon's single-OR cen-
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