40 years ago, Surgicenter created new model of patient care
PHOENIX (Feb. 12, 2010) – In 1969, two Phoenix anesthesiologists looked at how surgery was performed and wondered if it could be more efficient. Their solution – to perform simple surgeries in a non-hospital setting, where patients could be sent home the same day to recover with less cost to them – created an entirely new health care industry, ambulatory surgery centers.
Wallace A. Reed, MD, now 93, and his partner, the late John L. Ford, MD, opened the Surgicenter in downtown Phoenix on Feb. 12, 1970, after months of writing the rules for their center and lobbying for acceptance from the Arizona Legislature, physicians and surgeons, medical boards and insurance companies.
“There was no model for what we were doing; everything we did we had to do from scratch,” recalls Dr. Reed, who is still actively involved with the Surgicenter and serves as a Board member for the Banner Alzheimer’s Foundation. “For instance, we had to work very hard to get compensation rates from insurance companies and Medicare, but there was nothing to base it on. Insurance regulations at the time required patients to spend the night before surgery in the hospital and one-to-two nights after the procedure. We said that if we did everything on the same day, it would reduce the costs for both the patient and the insurance companies.
“They were really quite cooperative with us because they saw the value in the idea and even help write the coverage regulations. A year or two after we opened, the insurance industry even placed advertisements featuring Surgicenter in medical journals, newspapers and magazines touting the benefits of outpatient surgery. You can imagine how astounded we were.”
Drs. Reed and Ford also stipulated that a physician had to remain at the Surgicenter each evening until all the patients were safely discharged to their homes. This was something that wasn’t done in hospitals at the time, but became a forerunner of the current hospitalist model at nearly every hospital in the nation.
Today, the Surgicenter is part of Banner Surgery Centers, performing more than 700 procedures each month. Nationally, the idea has expanded to more than 5,000 ambulatory surgery centers that perform more than 22 million procedures each year.
The Surgicenter has also inspired loyalty from its staff. Four staff members from 1970 – Diana Anderson, L’Jeanne Fairbourn, Jerri Rice and Sharon Shafer – are still active at the Surgicenter; three as nurses and Mrs. Rice as the surgery scheduler.
“The Surgicenter model created by Dr. Reed and Dr. Ford did not just change healthcare, it created an entire industry never before done,” said David Milton, Surgicenter administrator. “When this facility was created, Medicare, insurance companies and the healthcare licensing people had nothing to go on. It was never done before. But they were able to show in just two years that the Surgicenter model was able to improve patient care and reduce the cost of receiving that care. Talk about health care reform.
“Dr. Reed and Dr. Ford also took an active role in setting the rules for other surgery centers by founding the Federated Ambulatory Surgery Association, now known as the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association.”
ABOUT BANNER HEALTH
Headquartered in Phoenix, Banner Health is one of the largest, nonprofit health care systems in the country. The system owns or leases 22 acute-care hospitals, long-term care centers, outpatient surgery centers and an array of other services including family clinics, home care and hospice services, and a nursing registry. Banner Health is in seven states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada and Wyoming. To learn more about Banner Health, go to www.bannerhealth.com.
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