Frontier Healthcare, New York's Largest ASC Management Company, Opens Four New York City Ambulatory Surgery Centers in Three Months

NEW YORK, May 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- In late April, Frontier Healthcare opened Flushing Endoscopy Center, which received same-day New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) approval to begin treating patients. Flushing became Frontier's eighth de novo center, all of which are specialized in gastroenterology and provide the latest diagnostic and therapeutic gastrointestinal endoscopic services, including colonoscopies, upper endoscopies (EGDs) and other minor procedures. In just three months, From February through April, Frontier Healthcare successfully opened four ASCs, representing 32 physicians and over 56,000 cases, annually, now giving Frontier Healthcare the largest portfolio of ASC partners in New York State.

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Frontier was organized in late 2010 and since then has partnered with over 90 physicians to become the market leader in New York State. Frontier Healthcare's CEO and co-founder, Jordan Fowler, entered the ambulatory space in 2005, when a group of lower Manhattan gastroenterologists came together to build an Article 28-licensed ASC to perform their endoscopy procedures, allowing them to shut down their office-based surgeries (OBS). After meeting with national ASC management companies, the physicians decided to instead engage Mr. Fowler, having met him back when he started his career as a sales rep. This project allowed Mr. Fowler to not only develop a ground-up expertise in ASC development, but also a unique familiarity with the New York landscape, which up until then had been particularly hostile when it came to licensing approval for ASCs.

However in the past few years, the continued decline in physician reimbursement, coupled with hospitals accepting ASCs as a valuable part of the healthcare landscape, resulted in a growing transition from the OBS to the ASC as the predominant site of service. New York's transition to the ASC setting for most non-emergent care, partly driven by Frontier, has continued rapidly, particularly in gastroenterology. "The ASC allows physicians to maintain their autonomy while providing a standard of care and patient experience that exceeds that of a hospital, not to mention the office," said Roy Bejarano, COO of Frontier Healthcare. "We expect this trend in NY ASCs to continue, driven by patient preference, the need for physician flexibility, improved reimbursement and NYSDOH's endorsement of ASCs as a low-cost yet superior outpatient venue."

"What we've seen in the Manhattan landscape is just incredible. In just three years, the OBS has gone from being the predominant site for gastroenterologists to being almost non-existent," said Fowler. "We expect to see a similar sea change in Long Island and Upstate New York. While many practices in these areas are larger and better positioned to withstand declining reimbursement than NYC practices, ASCs still make sense, and represent the future for same-day procedures." In the past month Frontier has partnered with two additional groups of physicians, both of which are based in Long Island.

CONTACT: David Lewkowitz, (212) 874-0107, [email protected]

SOURCE Frontier Healthcare