Market forces affecting the ambulatory surgery industry

Ambulatory is the term the industry is “stuck with” because that is the name the founders came up with in 1970, says David Shapiro, MD, CASC, CPHRM, LHR, an anesthesiologist with extensive experience in ambulatory surgery management and a member of the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) board. “I’m not really sure this is a good term for us anymore because it applies not only to ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) but to the entire outpatient arena including hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs) and physicians’ offices and clinics,” he says.