Becker’s Healthcare Podcast: Jeffrey Flynn, President of the NYS Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers

Date: December 8, 2025
Host: Grace Lynn Keller
Guest: Jeffrey Flynn, President of NYS Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers & COO of Gramercy Surgery Centers

Episode Overview

This episode, recorded live at the 31st Annual Business and Operations of ASCs Conference, features a conversation with Jeffrey Flynn about the current state and future trajectory of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). Flynn discusses key market forces, technology integration, collaborative opportunities, and workforce challenges facing the ASC sector.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Current ASC Market Trends and Growth Drivers

• Major forces fueling ASC growth:
  • Unsustainable healthcare cost increases are pushing payers, insurers, and employers toward lower-cost care settings.
  • Patients experience smooth, timely, and less chaotic experiences at ASCs than traditional hospitals.
  • The ASC market is projected to reach $60.8 billion by 2030, with higher-acuity cases increasingly moving into ASC settings.

Quote:

“We have an unsustainable climb in healthcare cost in this country… Insurers, payers and employers are actually now demanding… higher acuity cases going into lower cost settings, which are cost more efficient, [and] we also provide a better patient experience.”
— Jeffrey Flynn (01:44)

• Cataracts and Future Case Shifts:
  • Less complex procedures like cataracts are projected to move into office-based settings within a few years, allowing ASCs to further embrace high-acuity procedures.
  • Flynn suggests ASC leaders should not fear these trends but instead adapt and prioritize the expansion of services to more complex cases.

2. Technology as a Critical Success Factor for ASCs

• Robotics and AI:
  • The ASC sector is at a tipping point where robotic surgery is becoming standard—especially since new surgeons are increasingly “looking for that robot.”
  • The traditional laparoscopic approach is giving way to robotic-assisted procedures as the norm.

Quote:

“The reality is, orthopedic surgeons, general surgeons coming out of training now are looking for that robot. And unless they have that robot for a crutch, that’s a real issue of them coming to the surgery centers.”
— Jeffrey Flynn (02:54)

• AI in Operations:
  • Artificial intelligence can streamline operational tasks, such as automating patient confirmations—a process that can consume about four hours daily for busy centers.
  • Flynn says that automating such processes “could be huge” for expanding staff bandwidth.

Quote:

“With AI just in the senses of billing… expanding your bandwidth with certain simple things like that, it sounds like a real person making your phone call… If you can expand your bandwidth that that person’s doing something else, that could be huge for you.”
— Jeffrey Flynn (03:31)

3. Collaboration and Joint Ventures

• Hospital Partnerships:
  • About 60% of health systems are considering ASC joint ventures.
  • Successful models involve health systems that offload less acute cases to ASCs, reserving hospitals for more complex procedures.
  • Flynn highlights New York’s Mount Sinai and Northwell health systems as examples where joint ventures have improved efficiency and patient access.

Quote:

“There are some hospital systems that really have known how to do it… They need to offload certain cases to have room to do the higher acuity cases in the hospital. And they’ve embraced that.”
— Jeffrey Flynn (04:09)

• Key Outcome:
  • Collaborations expand community access and operational efficiency for both hospitals and ASCs.

4. Workforce and Education Challenges

• Talent Pipeline Concerns:
  • Flynn expresses concern about a “brain drain” because most healthcare career programs focus on hospital settings, not ambulatory care.
  • Calls for partnership between national organizations and educational institutions to include ambulatory healthcare management in curricula—making room for externships and internships.

Quote:

“Nobody trains to come into our fields. The programs in educations now… are all geared towards hospital setting systems… National organization needs to work more carefully with education programs to open up ambulatory healthcare management as a teaching ability… That’s a concern I have as we further grow.”
— Jeffrey Flynn (05:09)

• Outlook:
  • Despite recruitment challenges, Flynn is optimistic: “In the ASC community this really is our time to further grow so it is a very exciting time.” (05:50)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On ASC resilience and growth:

  “In the ASC community this really is our time to further grow so it is a very exciting time.”
  — Jeffrey Flynn (05:50)

• On the role of technology in routine operations:

  “Patient confirmations take about four hours a day. If you can expand your bandwidth that that person’s doing something else, that could be huge for you.”
  — Jeffrey Flynn (03:31)

Important Timestamps

• 00:35 — Host introduction and guest background
• 01:44 — Key market trends, ASC growth drivers
• 02:54 — The role of technology: robotics and AI
• 04:09 — Collaboration between hospitals and ASCs
• 05:09 — Workforce and educational pipeline concerns
• 05:50 — Flynn’s final outlook: “this really is our time”

Summary

In this concise but content-rich episode, Jeffrey Flynn offers a clear window into the dynamic changes reshaping ambulatory surgery centers. He points out that controlling healthcare costs, leveraging new technology, forging hospital partnerships, and addressing the workforce pipeline are all critical to the ASC sector’s ongoing success. Flynn’s optimistic tone is balanced by a pragmatic call to action for both industry leaders and educators—emphasizing that now is a “very exciting time” for ASCs in the broader healthcare landscape.