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This is Gracelyn Keller with the Becker's Healthcare

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podcast, and we are live with the business

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and operations of ASCs.

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I'm currently joined by doctor Amanda Ryan, who

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is an interventional cardiologist

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at Advanced ASC of Carlsbad, New Mexico.

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Doctor Ryan, thanks so much for joining me

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today. Would love to have you start off

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by introducing yourself and telling us a little

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bit more about your work in the industry.

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Great. Good morning, Grace. Thanks for having me.

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Yes. My name is Amanda Ryan. I'm an

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interventional cardiologist.

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We created a de novo in cardiology

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ASC in Carlsbad.

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That's been about a 5 year process, and

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we've been open for about 8 months.

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Just finished all of our initial accreditations, and

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we're getting moving.

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So we're doing about a 100 cases a

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month currently,

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single physician, single specialty

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cardiology

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with vascular work as well right now.

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Wonderful. Well, thank you for taking the time

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to be here. I'd love to start our

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conversation

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discussing ASC volume. So across the country, this

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is expected to increase by 16%

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by the year 2032.

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With this growth, what are the most pressing

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challenges to maintaining a positive patient experience?

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I think staffing. I mean, I know sometimes,

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you know, I hear other leaders say we're

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tired of hearing it, that's the buzzword, the

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catchphrase,

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but it is a unique and in the

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panel I was just in, you know, we

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were discussing how it's really different

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the way people need to be trained and

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approach

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outpatient medicine.

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It's different from hospital settings.

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And I think as we shift

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so much of the surgical volume,

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cardiology is definitely pretty new in the ASC

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sector.

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We've done a lot of leg work and

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some electrophysiology,

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but particularly coronary stenting.

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To think that's safe in a surgical center

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has really been a unique concept. And we've

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shown that over the last 5 to 10

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years that it is really a safe option.

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But then,

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you know, we have

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our techs and nurses in a cath lab

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at the hospital

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are somewhat used to a hurry up and

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wait pace, hurry up and wait, taking a

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lot of call.

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And that is very different from what you're

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going to need to do to meet the

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demands

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of patient volume in a surgical center.

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So I think not only is it it's

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not just staffing, like number of people, number

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of nurses, number of physicians, number of anesthesiologists,

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but a mentality

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and how are we going to get those

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people

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the appropriate training?

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I think that's really one of our biggest

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challenges.

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A 100%.

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And kind of going off of that, what

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strategies have worked for your organization to tackle

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this challenge that you have been discussing? And

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what's one recommendation that you have for health

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care leaders to stay ahead of this? Now

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we've got to invest in staff education, and

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that isn't always a traditional 4 year degree

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or a master's degree. A lot of it

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is certifications.

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It's really partnering with our vendors to make

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sure that our staff get that extra training.

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I have utilized a lot. I've leveraged my

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relationships with industry

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to see if they have a particular physician

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who's very high volume in one of the

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new devices that I'm introducing.

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I make sure not only does that physician

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come to my facility,

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but also I send my staff to their

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facility to work with that physician and his

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staff, his or her staff,

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so that they can really make sure they're

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getting enough exposure to it. So I think

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education is the key, but not always just

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the formal education that we think of.

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100%.

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And how can leaders ensure their staff are

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well equipped to help patients navigate

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the financial aspect of care? And how does

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this benefit patient provider relationships?

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Yes. I've always been even I've worked for

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a large corporation prior to reentering independent practice

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and opening my ASC.

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I've always been somebody that kept an open

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relationship with my patients about the financial side.

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Because if I order a stress test, an

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echocardiogram,

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or a heart catheterization on you,

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and you can't afford it, you're not going

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to get it done. And so I think

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sometimes as physicians, we wanna think that we

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don't really need to get involved in that

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side of it. You know, that's not really

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our arena. Now, obviously,

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if you're running your own outpatient surgical center,

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that's a little bit different. But even if

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you're employed by a large hospital system,

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In fact, you are the one that has

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the relationship with the patient. So I think

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you do have to keep that, you know,

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that knowledge open. For us, it's been really

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developing our RCM position,

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making sure we have a member of our

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team who is connecting

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our front office staff with our prior authorization

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team, with our billing and collection team.

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So somebody that and I think the key

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there is we have monthly administration days where

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we really go over these different topics. Matter

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of fact, my staff, I'll say hi to

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them, in Carlsbad, New Mexico are doing one

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yesterday and today while we're here. Some of

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us are here at the conference.

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And they're really utilizing that time to understand

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from a patient perspective,

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helping connect the dots from a to z.

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I think

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transparency

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is very important in health care.

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We have cameras that we allow patients' families

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to see our procedures,

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and we carry that over into our financial

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aspect too. We wanna sit down with patients

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and really

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try our very best to estimate for them

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what their cost of the procedure is going

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to be beforehand.

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Absolutely. That's so important.

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And as we wrap up here, I would

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love for you to share some parting words

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or anything else you'd want to share on

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the podcast.

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I think just ASCs are an amazing opportunity

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for physicians to get back in some of

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that autonomy and really true leadership in health

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care that we've been missing in some ways.

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And I think it really can strengthen your

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physician patient relationship

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when you are invested in their

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not only their safety, their overall medical care,

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and the financial aspect of it as well.

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So it's really allowed me a good opportunity

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to be that complete provider for the patients.

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Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for joining

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me today on the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. Again,

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we are live at the business and operations

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of ASC's event. Thank you. Thank you, Grace.