Corporate Profile

Titan Health - ASC Model for Success

Developing and managing a successful, profitable and enduring ambulatory surgery center is no easy undertaking, but for Titan Health Corporation, it's all part of a normal day's work.

Titan Health specializes in the development and management of specialty focused ASCs with concentrations in orthopedics, spine/neurosurgery, pain management and GI. Titan works alongside its physician partners every step of the way in creating highly efficient, profitable facilities throughout the U.S. Because Titan handles all the planning and details from start to finish, physicians can be confident that nothing will be overlooked. And thanks to the company's proven timeline and systems development flowchart, partners can rest assured that budgets will be met and ASC projects will open on time.

Couple that with an experienced and knowledgeable management team that has more than 100 years combined experience and has operated more than 150 ASCs nationwide, and Titan's unique model that allows physicians to maintain majority ownership and regain control of their practices and patient care, and it becomes clear that Titan has what it takes to create successful surgery centers and long-lasting partnerships.

Fulfilling a need
Titan has experienced consistent growth since its inception in1999. Marc Jang, the company's founder, president and CEO, originally saw the need for a company like Titan due to the highly fragmented nature of pain management and spinal diagnostics and the fact that both specialties gave physicians few options as to where they could perform their procedures.

"Providing an environment ideally suited to the needs of these highly specialized physicians and their patients formed the basis of the original concept for Titan," Jang explained. At the core of Titan's model is the idea that efficient and successful ASCs result from customizing its system of services to meet the specific and distinct needs of each set of physician partners and their community. Thus, while the foundational business principals Titan delivers remain the same, it may "look" very different across the country. Titan also firmly believes that limiting the number of specialties in its centers, as well as the number of physician partners, maximizes physician satisfaction, input and profitability. By limiting these factors, the centers developed remain small, and that's a good thing. According to a joint report from MGMA and AAASC, smaller surgery centers have better net income per case than large ones.

Once Titan had established itself in the pain market, the company moved on to tackle orthopedics and neurosurgery and then expanded into the gastroenterology market in February 2006 with the hiring of Clay Magness, Titan's Vice President of Business Development for endoscopic services. More market growth is expected during the next few years.

Today, Titan has facilities coast to coast as well as new facilities under construction and/or development in states including Michigan, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Centers are typically 4,000 to 12,000 square feet and located in either freestanding buildings or medical offices.

"All facilities are state licensed and built to meet the exacting needs of our physician partners," said Peggy Zampetti, Senior Vice President of Facility Development.

At the root of Titan's success is its approach to developing highly efficient and specialty focused centers and committment to quality patient care and physician satisfaction. Physicians who partner with Titan find they are able to maximize their efficiency and reimbursements by performing all of their procedures in their own surgery center as opposed to a hospital or multi-specialty ASC setting. They're also able to utilize state-of-the-art equipment that they've personally selected, and work with experienced staff trained in their specific specialties, All of this equates to higher levels of patient satisfaction and physicians being able to focus on their practice and lives outside the office.

As Jang put it, "Titan provides physicians with the opportunity to improve both efficiency and productivity. Physicians operate in a highly competitive marketplace with increased demand on efficiency and continued downward pressures on reimbursement. Titan facilities allow physicians to maximize their opportunities and minimize the inconveniences."

Ongoing support
Titan focuses on the long term. Unlike consultants, whose relationship, responsibility and accountability often cease with the engagement, Titan is there for the duration, ensuring its facilities operate at optimal efficiency and maximum capacity. Once the ASC is up and running, Titan's real work begins.

"Titan's only business is specialty focused ASC development and management. We are committed to being 'hands on' managers and true business partners," Jang explained.

Some companies aren't interested in partnering, which translates into short-term interest in the center and limited accountability when it comes to the ASC's success. Others are happy to partner, but insist on holding majority ownership, and may try to squeeze physicians into a model or situation that isn't a good fit given their specialty or needs.

"As a partner, Titan shares in the rewards of the ASC, but also in the risk, the challenges, the long hours and the late nights," he continued. "It's our people and their knowledge, commitment, integrity and experience that make us who we are today."

For more information about Titan and its services, call (916)614-3600, email at info@titanhealth.com, or log onto the company's website at www.titanhealth.com.