Who’s Who in the Ambulatory Surgery Industry

Interview with Tom Mallon, CEO In 2001, Thomas Mallon founded a company whose purpose, in part, was to do what other companies couldn’t in the ASC-turnaround market. In that challenge lies all the fun, says the CEO of Regent Surgical Health.“We have the creativity needed to look at a situation that causes other people to turn and run – that’s the kind of challenge that gets our team excited.” To address today’s challenges, Mallon draws upon a background specializing in tough sells; in college, Mallon successfully sold books door to door and also recruited other students to join him. “Whatever challenges I face today, nothing is as hard as that was,” Mallon says, laughing. Prior to working in the healthcare industry, Mallon spent 12 years in commercial office leasing, supervising the leasing and marketing for national and local firms based in Chicago. “I focused on distressed office buildings that were in the wrong place or that were poorly marketed, trying to figure out what was causing them to fail, and addressing it. ASC turnaround business is very much like that. A surgery center may have a substantial amount of dark OR time, and chances are the local hospital has a capacity problem; it’s our job to market to the physicians to get them to come to our ASC.” Prior to founding Regent, Mallon served as a founding member of Gryffindor Capital Partners, a venture capital fund, and in 1994, he co-founded a Chicago-based firm Same Day Surgery, which acquired five distressed and underutilized ASCs and a physician management company, for which he helped recruit 70-plus physician partners. Mallon says he learned some of his most important lessons outside of the classroom, in the real world. “I literally went from being a commercial office broker to an ASC administrator over a weekend. During a very busy day at my first center, I was helping out by assisting patients to the door of the facility, and helping them into their car. I’m holding a barf bag for a patient and thinking, “This is probably something not many of my fellow alumni are doing today.” “What we do every day is part business, part mission,” he says. “Much of the joy in this business comes from reading patient survey responses where patients had a good experience and were complimentary of our people — that is what makes it all worthwhile. It’s what causes me to get up early and to stay late.” Mallon attributes his firm’s success to the professionalism of his team. “We have a seasoned group of top managers, people who have dedicated their lives to this industry and who are good at solving problems. If you have high-quality partners, business is easy. Also, there is a lot of business to go around; I don’t believe every facility is right for us and we are not right for every group of partners. When I go into an opportunity, I’m not looking to win at any cost. I’m looking for an opportunity where our skills can solve their problems and there is a mutual business philosophy. Mutual financial goals will only take you so far; if you don’t do business the same way, it won’t be a good partnership. We’ve been fortunate to attract people who have a long track record of success in both the hospital and ASC industry, and that makes my job very easy and a lot of fun.”