Envision Healthcare’s Inaugural Clinical Impact Report Details High-Quality Patient Care Initiatives

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Envision Healthcare, a leading national medical group, today released its 2021 Clinical Impact Report, highlighting its impact on patients’ lives and communities across the country last year. The full report is available at EnvisionHealth.com/Impact-Report.

“In 2021, we remained on the frontlines for patients, exceeding national care quality benchmarks and implementing new programs that improve patients’ access to the right care at the right time,” said Jim Rechtin, Chief Executive Officer of Envision Healthcare. “We also made strides in enhancing our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Clinician Wellness programs. While there is no way to measure the true impact the Envision team has had on the millions of people we serve, this inaugural report provides a snapshot of the many ways we make a difference.”

Envision’s 2021 Clinical Impact Report demonstrates how Envision is providing care when and where it’s needed most. Last year, the Envision team rose to the many unique demands for care and drove positive changes within the U.S. healthcare system. Grounded in its commitment to delivering high-quality, patient-centered care, the team continued combating the COVID-19 pandemic, responded to natural disasters and humanitarian crises and advanced innovative care approaches.

Envision remains focused on elevating the voices of clinicians and patients and championing solutions that improve the healthcare system for everyone. As the medical group moves forward in 2022, it will continue protecting the patient-clinician relationship, caring deeply for everyone and centering its actions on advancing the delivery of safe, quality care.

Making a Positive Impact
From providing lifesaving care to preventing colon cancer to welcoming newborns into the world, Envision is uniquely positioned to have a positive impact on millions of people in the U.S. In 2021, Envision’s 30,000 clinical and clinical support teammates and 4,000 ambulatory surgery center physician partners cared for America through millions of visits, including:

  • 30 million patient encounters
  • 16 million emergency department visits
  • 9 million radiology reads
  • 6 million anesthesia cases
  • 900,000 colonoscopies
  • 180,000 cataract surgeries
  • 132,000 newborn deliveries supported

Caring for Communities
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the medical group has helped lead the nation’s COVID-19 response, caring for patients and working to mitigate the spread of the virus. More than 500 Envision clinicians have traveled to hard-hit communities to provide lifesaving care and relief since the beginning of the pandemic. In 2021, Envision clinicians treated more than 3.4 million COVID-19 patients through emergency department and inpatient visits, including in the intensive care unit. Clinicians also administered COVID-19 tests and vaccines to first responders and community members. Envision continues to educate the public about the importance of getting vaccinated, leading by example through its commitment to having a fully vaccinated team.

Through its disaster response program and years of expertise responding to crises, Envision teams are helping community members navigate some of the nation’s most challenging times. In 2021, Envision clinicians cared for more than 5,000 Afghan refugees for five months until they were resettled and had the resources needed to begin their new lives in the U.S. Teammates also supported communities during the deep freeze in Texas, Hurricane Ida in Louisiana, the tornadoes in the Midwest and the Marshall Fire in Colorado.

Providing Safe, High-Quality, Patient-Centered Care
Through Envision’s commitment to a culture of safety, clinicians are continuously evaluating clinical protocols and developing best practices to enhance patient outcomes and satisfaction. Envision operates one of 94 Patient Safety Organizations listed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services division, which helps improve the quality and safety of patient care. Through the Physicians Quality Registry, a Qualified Clinical Data Registry approved by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Envision is one of the largest submitters of performance data to Medicare and is helping define the quality of care nationally.

Last year, Envision clinicians developed one new Merit-Based Incentive Payment System measure. Clinicians also exceeded several national quality benchmarks, including measures regarding sepsis, non-opioid pain therapy and the care of babies born weighing less than 1,500 grams.

Empowering Teammates to Thrive
Envision is focused on caring for the people who care for America. In 2021, the medical group remained steadfast in its efforts to prioritize the health of its teams through its comprehensive Clinician Wellness program, which includes free mental health services, peer-to-peer support, crisis debriefs and leadership coaching. Envision also advocated for the Dr. Lorna Breen Healthcare Provider Act – a bipartisan bill designed to help change the culture and conditions that lead to burnout and eliminate the stigma that deters healthcare professionals from seeking mental healthcare.

Last year, Envision continued advancing its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) program, raising awareness and providing teammates with educational opportunities and resources to support DEI. As a medical group caring for communities that reflect the country’s racial, ethnic, sexual orientation and economic diversity, Envision recognizes its responsibility to create a more just and inclusive society.

To download and read the report, visit EnvisionHealth.com/Impact-Report.

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About Envision Healthcare Corporation
Envision Healthcare Corporation is a leading national medical group that delivers physician and advanced practice provider services, primarily in the areas of emergency and hospitalist medicine, anesthesiology, radiology/teleradiology, and neonatology to more than 1,800 clinical departments in healthcare facilities in 45 states and the District of Columbia. Post-acute care is delivered through an array of clinical professionals and integrated technologies which, when combined, contribute to efficient and effective population health management strategies. As a leader in ambulatory surgical care, AMSURG holds ownership in more than 250 surgery centers in 34 states and the District of Columbia, with medical specialties ranging from gastroenterology to ophthalmology and orthopedics. In total, the medical group offers a differentiated suite of clinical solutions on a national scale with a local understanding of our communities, creating value for health systems, payers, providers, and patients. For additional information, visit www.envisionhealth.com.

AMSURG Celebrates Its 30th Anniversary

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AMSURG launched in 1992 as a pioneer in the ambulatory surgery center industry, originating a physician partnership model that endures today. Our original focus was endoscopy centers, but we quickly expanded to include ophthalmology, orthopedic and multi-specialty centers. Today, AMSURG is an industry innovator, advocate, and source for patients to find quality care in their communities.

AMSURG has grown from six partner physician groups in 1992 into a network of nearly 2,000 partner physicians at more than 255 facilities in 34 states and the District of Columbia. But our mission has never changed – to provide quality care when and where it’s needed most, providing enhanced access to services that improve and lengthen life.

Over the past three decades, AMSURG partner physicians have performed more than 25 million procedures across multiple specialties. What began with endoscopies has evolved to incorporate everything from eye care and pain management to the latest in orthopedic care, including total joint replacements – all in a same-day outpatient setting.

One of our proudest achievements came a dozen years ago when we launched StopColonCancerNow, a network of gastroenterologists that spans 32 states and the District of Columbia. Through their work with patients and public awareness and education campaigns, these clinicians combat the second deadliest form of cancer, colon cancer. AMSURG itself is a nation’s leading operator of GI endoscopy centers, and we provide cutting-edge research with Mount Sinai Health Systems and other partners to reduce health disparities and encourage more Americans to get screened for colon cancer earlier.

Advocacy and education are integral to how we serve patients. In 2012, we launched YourSightMatters, a campaign to raise awareness about cataracts and eye health. Today this coalition represents 300 ophthalmologists, optometrists, nurses, and staff at 50 surgery centers.

AMSURG was publicly traded on NASDAQ from 1997 until the merger with Envision Healthcare. Revenues first topped $100 million in 1999. In 2000, AMSURG was named to Forbes’ list of Best Small Companies, which features the country’s most rapidly growing firms. The growth continued:

  • By 2002, AMSURG was a partner to 100 surgery centers, and by 2006 we were the largest ASC provider by the number of centers.
  • In 2007, AMSURG launched a multi-specialty ASC acquisition strategy. Today, we have 58 multi-specialty centers averaging more than 350,000 procedures a year.
  • By 2008, our partners were performing one million procedures annually.
  • In 2012, AMSURG established a health system partnership strategy, and today we have 57 centers with health system partners.

That year, we also finalized a partnership with RWJBarnabas Health to offer New Jersey area patients enhanced access to outpatient surgery services.

AMSURG merged with Sheridan Healthcare in 2014 and Envision Healthcare in 2016. That partnership enables us to make care more affordable and accessible to patients, champion wellness, and empower clinicians to improve the health of the communities they serve.

Introducing The SURG Videocast: Watch the First Episode Today

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AMSURG is excited to announce the launch of a new videocast, The Surg. Each month, we will host an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) physician partner to discuss clinical hot topics. Are there pros and cons to pre-procedure testing? What are safe turnaround times in an era of COVID-19? How should you prepare for flu season amidst COVID-19? We’ll answer those questions, and more, as we seek to be a resource for research and best practices, and a voice for our ambulatory surgery centers.

Episode 1

Envision Healthcare Chief Medical Officer and AMSURG Interim President Chan Chuang, M.D., hosts the first episode of The Surg, which you can watch here.

In the episode, Dr. Chuang and Erick Pecha, M.D., a gastroenterologist and founding physician partner with Folsom Sierra Endoscopy Center in California and president of the Gastroenterology Medical Clinic in Folsom, together tackle questions about COVID testing times, surgery center workflow, getting through state inspections, and best practices for increasing capacity while enhancing safety.

One bright spot Dr. Pecha identifies: though patients are somewhat anxious about safety, no-show rates are down from the pre-COVID era. One reason for that is the pre-procedure planning process. “Once you set up the program … and you explain to your patients that our goal is to create a sphere of safety for them that is better than their local grocery store, there has been quite easy adoption by the patients in terms of their compliance.”

Share Your Feedback

As with all of our communications, we welcome your feedback. After viewing The Surg, please take a moment to complete this survey.

How Do You Build A Practice In Record Time? Partner With Essential Healthcare Group.

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The healthcare sector is changing rapidly. Innovative technology and groundbreaking treatments have improved the quality and length of life. At the same time, however, other developments, including a proliferation of reporting requirements, have made it more difficult for clinicians to provide safe, effective, patient-centered care. Indeed, these factors place an enormous burden on physicians who want to build a long-term practice that will serve their community.

Essential Healthcare Group (EHG) provides an answer to these challenges. Launched in the second quarter of 2020, EHG is a physician-owned, multi-specialty professional practice corporation with management support provided by AMSURG.

Essential Healthcare Group was launched in Eugene, Ore. on August 12, 2020. Less than three months prior, a team of AMSURG employees and Eugene gastroenterologists had convened with the purpose of crafting a quick-launch plan for a gastroenterology practice. That practice welcomed its first patient for a gastroenterology procedure in late June and then, following strategic outreach to the local referring provider network, opened the doors of their medical office in August.

“It took AMSURG only 60 days to work with our physician partners on the ground to create a lasting, local professional practice focused on providing safe, quality care and meeting the digestive disease needs of local patients,” explained Angela Durham, AMSURG vice president. “These clinicians were facing a global pandemic and the potential end to their professional practice, but their drive and desire to continue to serve their patients proved greater than those forces. AMSURG is incredibly proud to partner with this impressive team of clinicians.”

Essential Healthcare Group is quickly gaining interest and is currently developing practices in California, Arizona and Connecticut. By taking on the risk and responsibility of practice development and ownership, EHG allows physicians to focus on patient care, safety and satisfaction. By offering a platform to come together across specialties, EHG and its physician partners provide patients with a full service experience that saves them time, money and anxiety and offers a safe and convenient venue for the comprehensive coordination of care.

EHG is able to support physicians in the more than 100 markets where AMSURG already has partners.

“We’re so grateful to have found Essential Healthcare Group. We needed to make a transition to a new GI practice, which proved to be a complex, daunting prospect,” said Dr. Christopher Stanke, an EHG gastroenterologist in Eugene. “AMSURG provided incredible support, along with some peace of mind. Within two days of opening our new doors, we served almost two dozen patients in the community we love and call home.”

EHG builds innovative practices that provide physicians flexibility, certainty and capacity, along with unique and tailored paths toward ownership and income growth.

EHG physicians benefit from a robust corporate team of advisers and operations specialists who provide innovative management, clinical support and strategic services, and expertise in safety and infection control. EHG can help manage succession planning, time off and referral networking, and physicians have access to full- or part-time, temporary or permanent contract providers and nationwide employment matchmaking programs that allow former partners to provide an experienced extra set of hands when a practice has a need or demand. EHG also gives physicians the opportunity to receive guaranteed compensation and a full benefits package as an employed provider while offering the chance to enjoy ownership in an ASC.

“Our aim with Essential Healthcare Group is to take care of business while our physician partners take care of their patients,” said Durham.