Dan Short, Vice President, Sales for Medical Web Technologies, outlines five major challenges ambulatory surgery centers face and how health information technology platforms can provide an efficient and cost effective solution.

Healthcare reform will be a big issue for all healthcare providers next year, especially ambulatory surgery centers. Uncertainty surrounding legislation and implementation has already had a big impact on the ASC market and several new initiatives will present challenges in 2013. Here, industry professionals discuss what they expect to see next year and how surgery centers can successfully overcome these challenges.

Allison Errickson, CPC-H, director of coding compliance for ProVation Medical, part of Wolters Kluwer Health, discusses the biggest challenges for ambulatory surgery centers with quality reporting for The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and what to watch for in the future.

Interventional Management Services has received the next step of approval for its ambulatory surgery center to be built at across from Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta.

Gavin Fabian, CEO of MedPassage, discusses the medical device industry and trends for lowering costs in the future.

Scott Becker, JD, Chairman of the Healthcare Department at McGuireWoods and the Publisher of Becker's ASC Review and Becker's Hospital Review, discussed key business and legal issues for ambulatory surgery centers in a webinar sponsored by SourceMedical on December 13, 2012.

Ambulatory surgery centers are now able to bring spine procedures — including spinal fusions — into the outpatient setting. However, some ASCs are having a hard time finding payors who will reimburse for those procedures.

Rebecca Harrell is a medical office broker with Henry S. Miller Brokerage, one of the largest independent commercial real estate firms based in Texas. She discusses the trends and opportunities for ambulatory surgery centers in the future.

Here are five steps for surgery centers to survive in markets where hospitals are employing independent physicians and physician groups.

Ambulatory surgery centers are taking several steps to upgrade their facilities and compete with hospitals in their communities. Here are seven building trends for new and mature ASCs to bring them into the new millennium.