NorthStar Anesthesia and EyeSouth Partners recently announced an expansion of their partnership, bringing NorthStar’s anesthesia services to five additional EyeSouth ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) across Cincinnati, Chicago and Atlanta.
This move aims to enhance the quality of ophthalmic care in these regions, NorthStar executives told ASC News.
“When we initially met with EyeSouth, they were in a very energetic state of growth and laying out their blueprint for national growth over the next few years,” Cindy Myers, vice president of ASC operations for NorthStar, said. “We had an instant synergy with them because North Star, in the past two to three years, has really taken the forefront in investing resources in our standalone surgery center division.”
The expansion builds on a successful partnership initiated in 2023, which began with an EyeSouth surgery center in Florida and later included two centers in Ohio. Once NorthStar and EyeSouth both realized they were looking at the same growth opportunities, not just locally but on a national level, they aligned, Myers said.
“In NorthStar having already established a very successful hospital footprint nationally, we knew we could work with our resources across the country to meet our growth goals in anesthesia and support EyeSouth in their national goals,” she said. “It just seemed to be a great partnership.”
EyeSouth Partners, headquartered in Atlanta, supports a network of over 40 eye care practices and more than 300 physician partners. They provide strategic guidance, administrative resources, operating expertise and capital to operations.
NorthStar employs over 4,000 anesthesiologists and CRNAs and collaborates with more than 300 health care facilities in 26 states.
“Currently, across the country, there is a national shortage of anesthesia providers,” Myers said. “Initially, when speaking with EyeSouth, one of their concerns was the stability of anesthesia providers needed for the growth they were anticipating. They needed reassurance about the availability of providers. With us having an already established footprint across the country with hospitals and now surgery centers, it was reassuring for them to know that one of the challenges we would address together was staffing shortages.”
NorthStar’s anesthesiology providers will fully integrate with EyeSouth’s existing affiliate ophthalmologists. This integration is expected to enhance care protocols and promote a consistently excellent patient experience, Dr. Josh Lumbley, the organization’s chief quality officer, said.
“NorthStar does see continued growth in the ambulatory surgery center environment,” he said. “We’ve dedicated a fair number of resources, both from a clinical quality standpoint and an operational standpoint, to assess overall performance specifically for ambulatory surgery centers.”