Partnerships in Healthcare
About Us
Earnhart & Associates, Inc. is a healthcare consulting firm that works in many areas of the healthcare industry. Our firm specializes in management of hospital operating room to function like for-profit, highly efficient surgery centers so developing a new center is not necessary, the development, licensure and management of real time ambulatory surgery centers (“ASC”), urgent care centers, oncology radiation facilities, infusion centers, freestanding emergency rooms, and other healthcare related services.
Our years of expertise in the healthcare industry allows clients to successfully achieve their objectives. We provide prompt input and direction with recommendations based upon years of experience, current trends in the industry and your specific situation.
Stephen W. Earnhart, President & CEO
Mr. Earnhart’s academic background includes his Nursing Degree from Bristol College, Fall River, Massachusetts; completion of the Anesthesia School for Nurses, St. Joseph’s Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island; a Bachelor of Science Degree in Psychology from Emmanuel College, Boston, Massachusetts; and a Masters Degree in Management from Lesley College, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Mr. Earnhart has authored over 240 articles in various professional publications covering a wide range of topics relating to all aspects of the management and business operations of outpatient surgery centers and ambulatory care centers. In addition to providing the keynote address to the 1996 International Congress on Ambulatory Surgery in Adelaide, Australia, Mr. Earnhart has delivered in excess of 40 presentations, both nationally and internationally, at various professional conferences, conventions and seminars.
Mr. Earnhart began his career as a United States Navy Corpsman attached to the U.S. Marines in Vietnam. While in Vietnam, he participated in the establishment of field hospitals and flew helicopter medical evacuation rescue missions and provided emergency field medicine during combat. After his honorable discharge from the Armed Forces and subsequent formal education and training, Mr. Earnhart worked as a certified registered nurse anesthetist at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston, Massachusetts. However, much of Mr. Earnhart’s experience comes from his “problem solving” experience with over two hundred hospital and ASC clients across the country. He also served as Regional Director for Operations and Development for Medical Care International in Dallas, Texas. There he was responsible for multiple freestanding, for-profit, ambulatory surgery centers, recovery centers, identification and development of new acquisitions in the creation of physician, hospital and HMO joint ventures, and physician practice management.
Prior to his for-profit experience, Mr. Earnhart spent several years in the not-for-profit hospital side of the business as a Director of Ambulatory Services and Director of Interventional Services, covering in-house operating room activity and other para-surgical services. He founded Earnhart & Associates to respond to the growing calls for his professional assistance from other hospitals and ASCs across the country. In 1993, Mr. Earnhart was the President and founder of Professional Surgery Corporation (ProSurg) of Dallas, Texas, a privately held corporation established to acquire, develop and manage outpatient surgery and recovery centers. Capitalized with $3.5 million dollars, the company was sold three years later for $9.75 million dollars. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Earnhart decided to devote his full time attention to growing and promoting Earnhart & Associates as a highly specialized ambulatory care consulting firm that would cater to a small, select group of clients.
We approach all projects from both a clinical and a business perspective. Our staff of professionals have worked on the front lines of the healthcare industry and bring both theoretical and practical knowledge. With a focus on all aspects of healthcare, our professionals can effectively communicate with clinicians and management alike. We achieve results through accuracy and precision that is tempered by years of diverse experience. This allows our clients to successfully achieve their objectives.
More About
- Our History & Track Record
- We have opened over 200 surgery centers! Further, we have been called to help out an additional 300 center that others have done but didn’t go the way the investors and surgeons thought they should.
- Cost Control
- We know what is going on in some existing surgery centers and hospital out-patient departments – Times are tough for some centers and hospitals. Medicare reimbursement is being held for some, patient co-pays are tough to collect, and reimbursement on some cases has dwindled down to next to nothing. So why are you still at your same staffing levels and not cutting your costs? We know how to cut your expenses! There are times when you need an “outsider” to make the difficult decisions for you – that time is now. Call us.
- Surgery Center Development – Consultant or High Priced Company?
- You don’t need a “surgery center company” to get your center up and running unless you want them to own a part of it. You are much better off hiring a consultant like Earnhart & Associates. We have more experience, we don’t want to own a part of your surgery volume, we do not have inexperienced people running around telling you what to do, we don’t require you to use certain vendors, and we leave when you are happy with the results! You don’t have to sell your center to get rid of us or pay a large fee to make us leave! Best of all – you can cancel any agreement with us with a 30 day notice!
- Questions About Surgery Centers
Don’t give away your hard work to someone just because you don’t understand surgery centers. If you have questions about anything related to your surgery center – just call us! We are very frank and open about the process over the phone. Best of all – you get all the information you need to make a decision about opening a center in one afternoon with us! There is no magic in getting a surgery center feasibility study, syndicated with other surgeons or a hospital, and successfully implemented. It takes experience to make it happen seamlessly however. Every center we have done has successfully passed its State licensure requirements and Medicare requirements – on the first inspection!
Remember
We are one of the few companies that do NOT require equity or ownership in your surgery center or management fees. You have done quite well on your own and we realize that. We are a fee-for-service company. We come in, get your State License and Medicare Provider number and leave. If you like, we can help you get your surgery center up running for the first year or two if you wish – but not even that is required! In other words – you are in charge!
If you want it done right, up and running as quickly as possible, and with all the right resources – call us today. We can be reached at (512) 320.8580. Want our CEO’s cell number? Call Stephen Earnhart directly at (512) 297.7575. Experience really does matter.