VMG Health — VMG Health provides valuation and financial advising services to the healthcare sector. The company’s core practice areas include business valuation, professional services valuation, transaction advisory services and joint venture relationship development. Founded by Greg Koonsman in 1995, VMG Health advises a variety of healthcare clients and provides solutions to financial, operational and legal issues.
Jon O’Sullivan, senior partner at VMG Health, says that many economic and legislative changes has increased the need for healthcare valuation services. “The pending legislative agenda in Washington, impact of recent changes to Stark, evolving reimbursement landscape and fierce competition for market position continues to create an imperative to either forge new relationships or strengthen current relationships. As a result, VMG is not only assisting its clients with myriad of business valuation issues, but is also assisting in the formation of joint-venture relationships and representing clients on the sale or acquisition of strategic businesses,” he says. www.vmghealth.com
Ambulatory Surgical Centers of America — ASCOA provides development and management services to ASCs. ASCOA offers experience in real estate, financing, staffing, training, equipping, licensure, accreditation and compliance. ASCOA currently owns and manages 32 surgical centers and encourages majority ownership for its physician partners.
According to ASCOA’s chairman of the board and founder, Brent Lambert, MD, the company excels in the turnaround of ASCs. “ASCOA continues to find excellent opportunities for turning around financially-troubled centers throughout the country. It is very satisfying to see our surgeon colleagues relieved of the burden of writing checks to maintain their center and instead receive checks each month from the new profits,” he says. www.ascoa.com
Surgical Notes — Surgical Notes is a national provider of medical transcription, coding and other related value-added information technology services for the ASC market. The company, led by Jeff Blankinship, president, provides transcription, coding and practice management solutions to more than 420 surgery centers and 6,300 physicians.
Surgical Notes continues to develop new technology applications designed to increase efficiencies and improve operations for ASCs and surgical hospitals, according to Mr. Blankinship. “We are currently working with many of the large management companies on rolling out our latest product, the VMR Express,” he says. “This cost saving application, a document management solution and forms generator, is designed to seamlessly transition centers into a digital environment.” www.surgicalnotes.com
Amerinet — Amerinet is a group purchasing organization offering clients access to its competitive portfolio of product and service contracts. Amerinet’s portfolio includes medical, surgical, pharmaceutical, office and environmental products as well as information technology solutions, capital equipment and construction vendors.
Allie Karshenas, Eastern area vice president of sales for Amerinet, says, “Our focus on the ASC market is aligned with the recent and anticipated healthcare changes coupled with ambulatory and non-acute care markets being strong core competencies for Amerinet. We will continue to build and enrich our portfolio of services and products for these market segments.” www.amerinet-gpo.com
Blue Chip Surgical Center Partners — Blue Chip Surgical Partners develops and manages physician-led surgical centers across the United States. The company, led by Jeff Leland, provides a full range of business development services including strategic planning and start-up consulting, organizational structure and financial modeling and ongoing management services. The company has worked with a number of centers and has expertise in the development and management of spine ASCs.
Blue Chip continues to open ASCs including two new centers in July, according to Mr. Leland, managing director of Blue Chip. “We opened a spine-focused multi-specialty surgery center in Lincoln, Neb., and a hospital joint-venture project in Portland, Ore., with partners which include community surgeons and Providence Health System,” he says. “We are excited about the two new projects and look forward to announcing two more projects in the next month.” www.bluechipsurgical.com
Access MediQuip — Access MediQuip is one of the largest providers of outsourced implantable device management solutions. The company is a leader in handling medical device payment and related issues for ASCs and has more than a decade of experience helping healthcare providers reduce the risks associated with implantable devices.
According to Tim Hargarten, CEO of Access Mediquip, the company is positioned as a leader in the implantable device management industry. “Our goal is to continue to build on our company’s strong platform to create data analytics, clinical programs and efficiencies that our customers can’t find anywhere else in the implantable medical device industry. In doing so, Access MediQuip will be well-positioned to play a more active and meaningful role in the national call to action to reduce healthcare costs and improve patient care,” he says. www.accessmediquip.com
HealthCare Appraisers — HealthCare Appraisers provides valuation and consulting services exclusively to the healthcare community. Their leaders are well-versed in the Stark Act and related legislative issues relevant to ASCs. The company’s services include FMV opinions for compensation and service arrangements, business valuation, consulting and advisory services and litigation support.
“HealthCare Appraisers continues to grow as a national leader in healthcare business and compensation valuation, and despite the current economic environment, continues to see robust transactional work being consummated in the ASC industry,” says Todd Mello, founding principal with HealthCare Appraisers. “With our extensive valuation experience exclusively in the healthcare industry and knowledge of the regulatory environment, we are able to offer expert, independent FMV opinions and business valuations to our ASC and hospital clients across the country.” www.healthcareappraisers.com
Meridian Surgical Partners — Meridian Surgical Partners specializes in the acquisition, development and management of multi-specialty ASCs and surgical facilities. Meridian’s services focus on improving the performance, efficiency, achievement and knowledge of ASCs and other surgery facilities.
According to Buddy Bacon, CEO of Meridian, 2009 has been a strong year for the company. “Since completing our first acquisition during the first quarter of 2009, we continue to have a very solid acquisition pipeline. We are currently in negotiations with several physician-owned ASCs about partnering with our company,” he says. “We are in a position to close several more acquisitions by year end. We continue to see a very strong same-store sales increase among our partnerships. Our same-store sales growth for the six months ended June 30, 2009, was 13 percent.” www.meridiansurgicalpartners.com
Practice Partners in Healthcare — Practice Partners develops and manages ASCs, diagnostic centers and rehabilitation facilities within the United States. The company holds minority ownership in the centers it works with and offers a variety of services including: feasibility studies, site selection, project scheduling, architectural selection and consultation, construction management and accreditation support.
According to Larry Taylor, president, CEO, and founder of Practice Partners in Healthcare, the company is continuing to grow. “The current environment has created additional opportunities for our team to assist surgeons and facilities to maximize their potential. Practice Partners continues to grow and add new and turnaround projects to our portfolio,” he says. www.practicepartners.org
Serbin Surgery Center Billing — SCB provides coding, billing and collection services to ASCs. SCB assists surgery centers in accounts payable and financial services; managed care contract negotiation and consulting; and insurance verification. SCB employs certified and experienced coding, billing and collection personnel with ASC backgrounds.
Caryl Serbin, president and founder of SCB, says that the company continues to grow. “In our efforts to help ASCs control, optimize and expedite their reimbursement, SCB is extending [its] service line. Now, in addition to our experienced and trusted coding, billing and collections, we are offering insurance verification, patient financial counseling, managed care contract and fee schedule review,” she says. www.ascbilling.com
