Start a Pain Clinic That Rents ASC Block Time

1. 1

   Separate the office from the procedure suite in your model

   This variant splits the business in two: a lean office where you see, evaluate, and manage patients, and a rented procedure suite where you perform image-guided injections and ablations on someone else's C-arm. That split is exactly what lets you start for $75,000 to $250,000 instead of roughly $530,000. You keep the professional fee on every procedure; you skip the capital, the radiation permitting, and the facility overhead. It is the capital-light way into the same clinical work.

2. 2

   Negotiate compliant block-time or per-case access

   Approach nearby ASCs and hospital outpatient departments for block time (a recurring reserved schedule) or per-case access to their fluoroscopy suite. The agreement must be fair-market-value and structured so it does not run afoul of Anti-Kickback rules, especially if the facility is a potential referral source. Have health-care counsel review the arrangement. Reliable access to the partner's schedule is the operational risk that defines this model.

3. 3

   Stand up the lean office

   The office needs exam rooms, an EMR, ultrasound for soft-tissue and bedside work, and a small team, not a C-arm or a shielded suite. Because your capital is low, your breakeven is fast, but your revenue per day is capped by the block time you can secure. Design the office schedule around clinic days and procedure days at the partner facility. This is the leanest full interventional model in this file.

4. 4

   Credential and route revenue correctly

   Credential with commercial payers (which pay roughly 30 to 50 percent more than Medicare), Medicare, and Medicaid for your professional services. Understand that the facility bills its facility fee and you bill your professional fee, so your revenue is the professional component only. That is the explicit trade versus owning: lower capital and risk, but no facility-fee upside. Model the difference before deciding whether to stay in this variant or graduate to an owned suite or ASC.

5. 5

   Decide whether this is a stepping stone or the destination

   Many physicians use the rent-block-time model to launch, build a patient and referral base, and prove volume, then either buy a C-arm for an owned suite or co-own an ASC to capture the facility fee. Others stay lean permanently because it minimizes capital and management burden. Both are valid. Revisit the decision once your procedure volume would comfortably fill an owned suite, because that is the point where the facility fee starts to justify the capital.

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