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This is Gracelyn Keller with the Becker's Healthcare
Podcast, and we are live at the business
and operations of ASCs.
I'm joined right now by Jeffrey Singerman who
serves as the director of operations at Manhattan
Endoscopy Center. So, Jeffrey, thanks so much for
joining me this morning. My pleasure. We'd love
to have you start off by introducing yourself
a little bit further and explaining your work
in the industry. Okay. So as you said,
I'm Jeffrey Singerman. I am the director of
ops for Manhattan Endoscopy. We're located in midtown
Manhattan,
not too far from Grand Central, if you
know New York City at all.
We are freestanding
ASC
associated with a management company. I don't know
if I can use their name or not.
It's, FCA
is our management company. We have 7 procedure
rooms, about 25 doctors scope with us,
employ about 50 people, and should end the
year doing about 10 to 11000,
patients.
Wonderful. Well, thank you for taking the time
to be here. 1st question for you today.
ASC volume across the country is expected to
increase by 16%
by the year 2032.
So with this growth, what is the most
pressing challenge to maintaining a positive patient experience?
If I boil it down to one thing,
it's probably recruitment and succession planning. So obviously,
succession planning with our gastroenterologists,
we have an aging population,
2 or 3 of our physicians are gonna
age out, and it's getting harder and harder
in an area like New York,
to recruit physicians
who want to work in a single specialty,
not affiliated with a hospital
ASC.
Coinciding with that is, as you can imagine,
given the New York market and the large
health systems that we have there,
it's difficult for us to recruit
nursing staff, anesthesiologists,
and technical staff,
being the technicians that are in the room
with the, providers.
And going along with that, what strategies have
worked for your organization to tackle that challenge?
And what's one recommendation that you have for
health care leaders to stay ahead?
So
what we're doing is
from a succession planning standpoint,
there is immediate buy in.
So as we recruit fellows who are graduating
fellowship programs,
they can buy in on day 1,
as opposed to practices that will say, yeah,
you can buy in in year 3 or
year 5, and year 3, and year 5
never really occur.
And then they're now 5 years into their
career, and they're looking for another position.
And so far, that seems to have worked
for us.
From a staff standpoint,
we try to be as flexible as possible
with the hours that people can work. We
will offer 8 hour days and 10 hour
days.
We're very transparent upfront when we recruit as
to what the job entails,
the hours that they can work, and we
try to accommodate where we can.
And we also keep a large stable or
per diems
both on anesthesiologists
and nurses
and even some technicians that wanna moonlight, and
that helps us fill the slots.
And how can leaders ensure that their staff
are well equipped to help patients navigate the
financial aspects of their care? And how does
this benefit the patient provider relationships?
So I think you have to look to
technologies
to help you get through
to make it a really good
provider patient experience.
So
for example,
all our post calls are not post calls.
They're post texts.
So in our environment, there's very little we
can do for the patient themselves if they
have an issue. So our text basically the
descriptor is if you're having an issue, either
go to an ED or contact your gastroenterologist.
We look to wherever we can push technology
to work to make the patient
experience better
before they even come into the center.
Absolutely. Well, as we wrap up here, is
there anything else you'd like to share on
the podcast today?
Yeah. I think be transparent.
I'm being honest and transparent when you're hiring.
And I think if everyone's
expectations
are put forth during the hiring process,
I think it's a better experience for everyone.
And, ultimately,
the the better the experience
for the employee,
obviously, then better the experience for the patient.
A 100%. Well, Jeff, thanks so much for
joining me today on the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
Again, we are live at the business and
operations of ASCs. Thanks so much. My pleasure.
Thank you.