Key State data behind ASC growth
A physician or organization looking at new ASC construction there are multiple factors to consider when making that first crucial step on deciding your location. Prominent among them are the area’s average physician pay, regulatory environment, amount of competition and the cost of construction.
The below chart is based on research done by Becker’s ASC Review with data pulled from 2020 Census, Bureau of Labor Statistics, state regulations on new ASCs and average construction cost estimates for medical office buildings to create a ranking of the top 10 states for new ASC construction.
| Physicians Per 100k Population |
Avg Physician Pay |
Avg. Sq. Ft. Cost to Build MOB |
Becker’s Composite Rating |
|
| 1. South Dakota | 23.72 | $269,100 | $470 | 4.26 |
| 2. Montana | 21.61 | $271,560 | $485 | 3.71 |
| 3. Wyoming | 21.51 | $263,540 | $495 | 3.42 |
| 4. Idaho | 17.39 | $246,220 | $485 | 3.34 |
| 5. Indiana | 25.60 | $260,540 | $485 | 2.98 |
| 6. Utah | 22.01 | $239,450 | $485 | 2.74 |
| 7. Arizona | 26.11 | $240,750 | $480 | 2.65 |
| 8. Maine | 36.22 | $279,700 | $475 | 2.64 |
| 9. Nebraska | 29.27 | $230,330 | $460 | 2.29 |
| 10. Georgia | 24.74 | $251,300 | $480 | 2.17 |
Rating Methodology
To convert each dataset into comparable numbers, Becker’s calculated the standard deviation and average of each, which were both used to determine the Z-scores for every value. The Z-score is a measure of how far a point of data is from its parent dataset’s average.
For “average physician pay,” higher numbers are clearly better, but for “physicians per 100K population” and “average sq. ft. cost to build MOB,” golf rules apply: the lowest score wins. In calculating the Becker’s composite, the signs were reversed on the Z-score categories playing by golf rules, which were then summed with the physician pay Z-score and a value reflecting the restrictiveness of state regulations.
This article’s formatting was edited slightly for clarity. Read the original article on Becker’s ASC Review.