Image courtesy of Compass Surgical PartnersJohn Hammack has joined the executive team at Compass Surgical Partners as chief financial officer.
Hammack’s appointment is anticipated to strengthen the company’s ability to launch, operate and expand high-performing ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) for physician and health system partners.
Hammack has led multi-site businesses through successful transformations and steady organic growth, according to Compass. His expertise includes consumer services, technology, real estate and health care, where he has overseen financial strategies for physician practice groups with ASCs and other ancillary services. At Compass, he aims to use this experience to strengthen the financial infrastructure and promote ASC growth nationwide.
“John is a business-focused finance leader who combines rigorous discipline with a commercial mindset,” Compass CEO DJ Hill said in a statement. “Having successfully led companies through both scaling and advancement, he understands how to turn financial insights into opportunities that benefit patients, physicians and health systems. His engaging leadership style makes him a pleasure to work with — and a valuable asset to our ASC partners.”
Raleigh, North Carolina-based Compass Surgical Partners creates strategic partnerships with independent physician groups and health systems to develop and manage high-performing ASCs.
At Compass, Hammack will lead a financial team dedicated to providing physician and health system partners with real-time insights into case volumes, reimbursement trends, cost efficiencies and other key performance indicators (KPIs). His team will focus on delivering transparent, actionable information that helps ASCs stay on track, maximize growth opportunities, and achieve sustainable value.
To Hammack, the main component of setting realistic and achievable KPIs for new projects is collaboration.
“These ASCs are partners, and we need clarity on what procedures will be performed. You should have a history to reference assumptions for the future, and it’s essential to ensure full transparency of those assumptions to all partners,” Hammack told ASC News. “It’s really about having clarity and alignment on assumptions, carefully vetting them out and making sure there’s full transparency throughout the entire process before we greenlight a project.”
Hammack said he wants to ensure Compass is working on projects with the right level of financial viability and that there will be sufficient volume to limit risk, while ensuring alignment around that goal.
He said the ASC business has strong tailwinds. Payers, patients and physicians all support shifting cases from more expensive hospital settings to ASCs. Additionally, certain health care specialties are moving into ASC settings, further strengthening these tailwinds.
Finance is a crucial business partner that supports an organization’s success, Hammack said. Ensuring transparency in the ASC’s performance and actively helping the operator optimize it are essential – much of this involves benchmarking against other ASCs and industry standards, as well as fostering active collaboration.
And technology plays a key role in shaping benchmarking and collaboration, according to Hammack.
“Without technology, you lack the visibility you need, and you definitely lack an effective way to achieve it and provide transparency to the center,” he said. “It allows you to deliver consistent results across all the centers as well as understand what they’re missing.”
He said that, by working with the centers and their administration, Compass can identify best practices. Technology is the tool through which they can maintain consistency and efficiency in promoting transparency.
A self-proclaimed “finance nerd,” Hammack said he is excited about offering his team this exceptional transparency and seeing that information lead to tangible, measurable results.
“It’s about engaging with these centers, helping them see the business more clearly, so they understand it and how it translates into their actions that drive results,” he said. “That’s the fun part for me. You see the reaction when you start unlocking ideas, and the team enjoys it. I certainly do.”
