The 'Why' Behind the Ames Surgery Center

An Interview with Brian Dieter, Mary Greeley president and CEO.

The Ames Surgery Center (ASC) is an important new healthcare resource for central Iowa. Its opening marks a major moment in the history of Mary Greeley Medical Center and its long partnership with McFarland Clinic. Brian Dieter, president and CEO of Mary Greeley, talks about how the surgery center came about and the benefits and opportunities it offers

You’ve been part of Mary Greeley for nearly 25 years. Knowing the history of this hospital, where would you place the significance of the Ames Surgery Center?

I think you can legitimately argue the opening of the Ames Surgery Center is one of the more significant milestones in the 108-year history of this hospital. I believe it has the potential to be transformational. 

We recently unveiled a display featuring a comment made by Captain Wallace Greeley at the dedication of the hospital in 1916. He talked about how proud he was to provide this resource for people who were in need at that time, but also for people who would be in need in the future. He was confident that this would be an organization that would fulfill needs that couldn’t be seen at that time. 

His confidence was well placed. In the beginning, we were the small hospital for Ames, Iowa. We are now a 220-bed regional medical center serving people in a 14-county region of central Iowa. We’ve grown with this region, both in terms of our services and our facility. 

The Ames Surgery Center is a continuation of this growth and Captain Greeley’s vision. 

Why now?

We’ve worked on this concept for a long time. The efficiency of having one set of operating rooms at the hospital has filled the needs of our region. We’ve grown and continue to grow, and our surgery space is in constant use. Expanding it within the hospital is expensive, which makes a surgery center and its benefits more attractive. 

The surgery center provides benefits to patients as well as health insurance companies, which increasingly are directing their customers to surgery center services because the cost is lower. 

How is it transformational?

While it’s not bringing new services to our region, it is changing the dynamics of how those services are delivered. In Mary Greeley’s operating room, the staff generally know how a day is going to go. But that day can change quickly when someone is rushed in for emergency surgery. Those types of events, which are typical for a hospital, change the day for staff and, often, for anyone who was scheduled to have surgery that day because we’ve had to move some resources to accommodate someone else. At the Ames Surgery Center, the day will be more predictable because emergency cases aren’t going to go there. They will still be coming to Mary Greeley, where we have all resources and specialists needed to respond to emergent situations. The planning continuity offered by the surgery center will be a great benefit to patients. 

What are other benefits?

As previously mentioned, costs are lower at a surgery center, as they don’t have all the resources that are necessary at a hospital and that figures into the cost. This is why insurance companies prefer surgery centers and increasingly require their customers to receive services at one. The Ames Surgery Center will provide a closer option for many people who need the services of a facility like this. Parking is also going to be easier. 

Physicians appreciate the chance to be part of a surgery center. A facility like this can serve as a recruitment tool to attract high-quality surgeons to our area. A lack of a surgery center was a potential mark against us when it came to recruitment, but that is no longer the case. It is a distinction that will make us more attractive. 

A large percentage of outpatient procedures will ultimately be done at the surgery center. What kind of impact will that have on the hospital?

It’s important to remember that Mary Greeley will still have a fully functioning surgical unit. While many outpatient surgical procedures will be done at the ASC, some patients will have conditions and comorbidities that require their outpatient surgery to be done in a hospital setting. But, yes, a good percentage—we estimate nearly 60 percent—could eventually shift to the Ames Surgery Center, which is another reason why this is all transformational. 

We’ve been very transparent with our staff regarding this change. It has obviously caused some anxiety, but we have a lot of employment opportunities for our current staff. Some will opt to work at the surgery center, or maybe even split duties between there and the hospital. 

The operating room won’t be as busy with outpatient procedures. Does this open up any opportunities?

Absolutely. We have a long history of working with other organizations. We have a strong relationship with McFarland Clinic. We also work with Iowa Heart, Wolfe Eye Clinic, Doran Clinic for Women, and a number of area hospitals. 

We will have the capacity in our surgical area to potentially provide privileges to physicians who need access to surgical facilities. Maybe they’d rather send a surgical patient to Mary Greeley instead of to Des Moines, for example. We are already hearing from other physicians in central Iowa who see opportunities here. We will pursue these opportunities because we have high-quality facilities and we want to provide great care to our patients. 

We will always keep in mind the needs of the communities we serve. For example, let’s say there is a specialty that requires five physicians to meet the needs of our communities. If we have those five specialists available, we aren’t going to pound the pavement looking for more. But if there are other specialities where we have a shortage of providers, we are definitely going to be open to options to fill those gaps with doctors who do quality work and have good outcomes. 

This also provides opportunities for physicians who already practice at the hospital. McFarland Clinic pulmonologist Dr. Tamim Mahayni, for example, will be starting an existing new robotic lung biopsy procedure, which is made possible in part by the new capacity in our operating room. 

Won’t this also change the relationship people have had with the hospital for years?

Mary Greeley is a strong organization and we will be here for a long time to come. But, yes, a patient having an outpatient procedure, and anyone who accompanies them, may not be coming to the hospital for that procedure as in the past. We still have a range of services that will be provided at the hospital, from obstetrics to cancer care, as well as surgeries that require admission. It is also important to note that the Ames Surgery Center is a service of Mary Greeley and McFarland Clinic. McFarland Clinic physicians will be doing procedures at the ASC. In fact, any physician providing services at the Ames Surgery Center is also required to have privileges at Mary Greeley. There’s continuity there. You’ll likely see some Mary Greeley nurses out there as well, as we are working on shared staffing agreements with the center. It will be a new facility but with a lot of familiar faces. 

And, of course, people who like our gift shop, coffee shop, and cafeteria are always welcome to come by the hospital.