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A Specialty Hospital Grows Out of an ASC

Despite controversy, some surgery centers are still converting.


A physician-owned surgery center recently completed a $9 million expansion to become the second ASC in the Cincinnati area to convert to a specialty hospital in the last four years.

Anticipating that between 10 percent and 15 percent of its case volume will be inpatient procedures, the Surgery Center of Evendale expects to care for 100 inpatients per month in its 29 rooms, according to the Business Courier of Cincinnati. "The accessibility is good, and it's smaller and less confusing than established hospitals," Evendale administrator Kelvin Holger told the newspaper.

Prexus Health, which manages the 105,000-square-foot center, also manages the Butler County Medical Center, which converted to an eight-bed hospital in 2004. The Evendale center has more beds than some critical access hospitals in the Cincinnati area, according to the article.

ASC conversions and small, physician-owned specialty hospitals are controversial because many, including the Evendale center, don't have an emergency department. "An ER is a very important part of the overall benefit a hospital provides to its community," Tiffany Himmelreich, spokeswoman for the Ohio Hospital Association, told the Business Courier. "It's a bit of an unlevel playing field as far as the financial situation and the benefit to the community." The OHA has called for legislation requiring round-the-clock emergency rooms, but the measure has stalled in the Ohio state legislature for more than a year, the paper reports.

Learn more about ASC hospital conversions in OSM's April 2007 "Legal Update" column, "Can We Convert Our ASC to a Hospital Outpatient Department?"

Kent Steinriede