A Conference Worth Waiting For — Carolina’s Healthcare Forum Presents “Keys To A Successful Joint Venture”

Fort Myers, FL – April 16, 2007 – Neither rain nor sleet nor snow, can keep the panel of experts assembled by Surgery Consultants of America (SCA) from detailing the key elements necessary for a successful hospital/physician ambulatory surgery center joint-venture project. The panel discussion is one of eleven segments being presented at the Carolina’s Healthcare Forum; an event that was originally scheduled for February but cancelled due to extreme winter conditions. It has been rescheduled for April 30, 2007 from 2:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Westin Hotel in Charlotte, N.C.

The purpose of the forum is to examine the key issues and challenges of today’s hospital-physician joint ventures. The event is being hosted by McGuireWoods LLP, which, according to the American Health Lawyers Association, is the 4th largest health care law firm in the nation.

This informative discussion, led by Caryl Serbin, President and founder of SCA, will be presented in a case study format. “In our discussion, we show how a joint venture makes sense from all viewpoints, and what is needed for success.”

Speaking from the management team’s standpoint, Serbin, offers concrete recommendations that hospitals, physicians, and existing ASCs can implement to ensure a successful outcome for their project.

“There are a lot of reasons a hospital board will want to structure their ASC as a joint-venture,” says Raymond Shingler, Senior Vice-President and CIO of Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, the hospital owner of the two centers being examined. “Higher profit margins, an expanded market share, and the ability to attract more and better doctors – these are all good arguments that can be presented to a hospital board to help them with their decision.” Shingler discusses these and other items for consideration from the hospital’s standpoint.

“We are delighted to have Caryl Serbin and Ray Shingler as keynote speakers,” says Scott Becker, Co-chair of the McGuireWoods LLP Health Care Department, “Even if they see only this discussion, attendees will come away with a lot of useful information.”

SCA is a consulting firm which specializes in the development and management of multi-specialty ambulatory surgery centers. Caryl Serbin is also a well-know expert in reimbursement issues for ASC’s. SCA’s sister company, Serbin Surgery Center Billing (SCB) provides coding, billing and collections exclusively for ASC's. For more information about SCA or SCB call 1-888-453-1144 or visit www.surgecon.com or www.ascbilling.com. For more information or to register for this event, visit www.mcguirewoods.com