Becker’s Healthcare Podcast — Episode Summary

Guest: Kathy Meccia, RNBC, BSN, CNOR, CRCST, Nurse Administrator at Lake George Surgery Center
Host: Francesca Matthews
Date: August 31, 2025
Duration: ~8 minutes (excluding intro/outro)

Episode Overview

This episode features Kathy Meccia, a seasoned nurse administrator, discussing key trends, opportunities, and challenges facing ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) today. Drawing from her 42 years in nursing and extensive experience in perioperative leadership, Kathy offers actionable insight on competition, financial pressures, and growth strategies in the ASC sphere.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Kathy Meccia’s Background and Career Trajectory

• [00:28] Kathy introduces herself as a nurse with 42 years’ experience, over 30 of which were in perioperative surgical administration, including roles in pediatric, med-surg, CCU, and emergency care.
• Five years ago, she transitioned from hospital leadership to open and manage a new ambulatory surgery center, describing the shift as "interesting and challenging."

Top Trends in ASCs and Healthcare

• 1. Increasing Competition and Consolidation [01:21]

  • More ASCs are consolidating or partnering, often joining with larger hospitals or healthcare systems to increase market share.
    • “It has caught on that [ASC] is the future of surgical health care.” — Kathy Meccia [01:26]
    • Kathy’s own center recently partnered with a larger facility:
      “We have recently partnered with a bigger hospital and healthcare facility to be able to grow in ourselves and in the market of ASCs.” [01:37]

• 2. Stagnant and Challenging Reimbursements [02:07]

  • Collections are increasingly difficult for ASCs. Declining reimbursements mean many procedures only break even.
    • Hospitals have more flexibility to withstand receivables, but ASCs feel the pinch more acutely.
    • Detailed insurance pre-authorizations and proactive patient communications are critical: “When we're talking about reimbursement, getting some good insurance contracts... making sure your staff, your front end staff are getting good pre-authorizations… That seems to help a lot in satisfaction, but also helps a lot with keeping up with the reimbursements and collections.” — Kathy Meccia [02:47-03:18]

• 3. Rising Costs—Especially Anesthesia [03:20]

  • Supply and medication costs keep increasing, but anesthesia is the most significant pain point:
    • “Anesthesia costs are so high right now that it's very difficult to offset what you're getting in collections and isn't going to pay the anesthesia providers, because that just makes us work harder on consolidating our block times and utilization, which in the end can be a positive. Right. If you're using more of your utilization of your blocks, then you're also more efficiently staffing and operating your ASC.” — Kathy Meccia [03:33-04:10]

Positives & Exciting Developments in the ASC Landscape

• Insurance Company Referrals to ASCs [04:32]

  • Insurers are now steering patients directly to ASCs for lower costs—an encouraging shift.
    • "We're getting referrals from actual insurance companies where they're telling the patients that they'll approve them to go to an ASC, but not to a hospital. So that's exciting for us to see." — Kathy Meccia [04:35]

• Potential Expansion of Procedures (CMS Inpatient Only List) [04:54]

  • Hopeful that CMS may allow more procedures to be performed in ASCs for Medicare beneficiaries.

• Attractiveness to Physicians [05:09]

  • More surgeons are choosing ASCs for efficiency and safety, making ASCs more popular among providers.
    • “The ASC market is becoming more attractive to physicians... biggest reason being safety and efficiency.” — Kathy Meccia [05:13-05:32]

Strategies for Growth

• Adding Specialties and Surgeons [06:01]

  • "Growth for an ASC is... quite exciting." — Kathy Meccia [06:01]
  • Her center is multidisciplinary despite higher startup and operating costs. They offer ophthalmology, podiatry, orthopedics, pain, general surgery, and endoscopy—and are looking to add more specialties and providers.

• Expanding Operating Hours [06:53]

  • Considering opening for weekend cases, likely Saturdays, to better serve patients who work weekdays, enhancing community access.

• Nimbleness of the ASC Model [07:10]

  • ASCs can adapt quickly and customize services to community needs, unlike some larger organizations.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “ASCs are becoming more exciting because they're becoming more the trend for minor surgeries and a lot of even major surgeries. And I have found that from transitioning from a hospital setting to the ASC setting, the customer satisfaction is off the charts.”

  • Kathy Meccia [07:32]

• “It's safe to come to an ASC. We don't take care of sick patients. And it's nice to see that, you know, that overall patient satisfaction and physician satisfaction, it makes work fun again.”

  • Kathy Meccia [07:50]

Important Segments & Timestamps

• Kathy's Background: [00:28–01:12]
• Industry Trends: [01:21–04:11]
• Exciting Developments (Insurance, CMS, Physician Trends): [04:32–05:40]
• Growth Strategies: [06:01–07:10]
• Customer & Physician Satisfaction: [07:31–08:11]

Conclusion

Kathy Meccia provides an experienced, candid perspective on the dynamic ASC landscape, highlighting rising competition, financial challenges, exciting reimbursement trends favoring ASCs, and strategies to promote growth and patient satisfaction. Her optimism about the future—coupled with a focus on adaptability and community needs—makes this a valuable listen for ASC leaders and healthcare professionals navigating a rapidly evolving sector.