A proposal for an independent surgical center that could save patients thousands of dollars is scheduled for review this month by the Green Mountain Care Board.
If approved, the Collaborative Surgery Center in Colchester could accommodate roughly 2,000 or more outpatient surgeries a year, its leaders said in an application filed in July. The proposal comes as the Covid-19 pandemic has pushed the University of Vermont Medical Center to cancel or delay surgeries for lack of staff, and the UVM hospital’s outpatient surgery center at Fanny Allen has been closed since November 2020, though a hospital spokesperson said Monday those surgical suites may reopen in the next couple of months.
UVM Medical Center leaders said they intend to replace the seven-bed Fanny Allen surgical center with a new, larger facility in South Burlington by 2024.
The Collaborative Surgery Center in Colchester would be about 9,000 square feet, cost about $3 million and be located next to another standalone facility, the Green Mountain Surgery Center. The two centers would share a corridor, a central sterile supply room and a medical gas room.
Leaders of the Green Mountain Surgery Center are involved in the current application, but Liz Hunt, operations and business office manager at the Green Mountain Surgery Center, said the two centers would ultimately not be affiliated.
The Green Mountain Care Board has planned a hearing on the Collaborative Center plan at 9 a.m. Jan. 26. If approved, construction could be completed within 12 to 18 months, Hunt said.
Unlike the Green Mountain Center, which is restricted by regulators from offering certain surgeries — including hip replacements and cataract removal — the Collaborative Surgery Center aims to offer the full gamut of outpatient procedures allowed by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Typical operations at the proposed standalone surgery center are expected to cost between $900 and $4,000 less than surgeries at the hospital, according to the proposal. Costs are lower because the center would be a relatively small, more specialized facility that offers only routine, scheduled procedures on lower-risk patients.
Hospitals, in contrast, have the high overhead costs associated with complex equipment, large numbers of specialists and around-the-clock medical care.
Leaders of the Collaborative Center asked the Green Mountain Care Board for an expedited hearing last summer, but the board denied that request on grounds that the center would be the first independent facility to offer a wide array of surgeries in multiple specialties and deserved careful review.
On Monday, a board spokesperson said the board does not comment on applications before a final decision is issued.
