This is Lauren Dierda with the Becker's Healthcare
podcast.
I'm thrilled today to be joined by Sherry
Whiting, administrator of Lakeshore Surgery Center. Sherry, it's
a pleasure to have you on the podcast
today. Thank you.
Now I'm looking forward to our discussion because
health care is transforming and surgery centers are
really in a unique position. So I'm excited
to learn more about what you're doing at
Lakeshore Surgery Center. But before we dive in,
can you tell us a little bit more
about yourself and your background? Sure.
I'm a nurse.
Originally, I was in business.
I own my own home care company that
I started from scratch, became one of the
largest in Michigan.
And then when I got out of that
industry, I went into,
surgery area at Lakeshore Surgery. I've been administrative
for 9 years. It was a new industry
for me. It's been really fun and exciting.
But I took my skills and my business
acumen
from 1 and took it to the other.
That's amazing to hear. Now,
from the surgery center perspective, ASC volume across
the country is expected to increase by around
16%,
by 2032.
So
Mhmm. With this in mind,
and this type of growth, what are some
of the most pressing challenges to maintain a
positive patient experience?
Yes. I think one of the best things
about our surgery center is we have a
99%
satisfaction for customers.
And the 1% isn't really our fault. It's
like the building's front desk person or something
like that. So we've really established that engagement
with our customers already.
And I think that has to be a
part of your culture if you're gonna maintain
that long term. It's the same with our
our staff. Maybe we only have a 1%
turnover rate. Wow. So it's about engaging with
them. And I think that's the secret,
you know, for growth,
for profits, for the whole thing. Yeah. That's
really amazing to hear. And, you know, when
you think about your culture, how would you
define that? What do you really build into
what you do on a daily basis to
make sure that, you know, people are comfortable
there, they're staying long term, and you're able
to,
just meet their needs and have this great
culture that you have at the surgery center?
Yes. Well, when I started there, it was
toxic. It was bad.
It was really bad. And even though I
don't think it affected the customers very much
at that point, customers being the patients,
it was a really toxic environment to work
in, very unhappy atmosphere.
And it took me time
to get the political clout
and the credibility to go to, you know,
the physicians and let them
know exactly what had to be done. And
at that point, you just start building your
culture
by appreciating your staff,
by gently correcting them
when there's a problem.
And if the problem doesn't
improve, then you have to more and more
aggressively
correct it. And people end up having to
leave. And they usually leave on their own
because they're no longer comfortable
in the culture that you
provide for the organization.
So it took time.
But now we have a culture that's well,
it's fantastic. It's fantastic place to work,
fantastic place to have surgery and the surgeons
love it. No, that that's the important thing.
You know, if everybody's. Everybody has to all
three customers,
it it has to work for all 3.
That's amazing to hear. Yeah. Yeah. Well, cool.
You know, and definitely kudos to you to
for, as you mentioned, getting in there and
being able to connect with the physicians and
understanding
how you needed to make changes and so
that you could come into the space where
it's really an excellent culture and works better
for everybody.
Now,
in terms of, you know, just thinking through
on the organizational level, could you talk about
some of the strategies that have worked to
tackle the challenges that you see,
within the surgery center as well as recommendations
that you would have for health care leaders
to stay ahead of the curve?
Well, you know, there's a formula to run
a great ASC. Right? I mean, efficiency
of your block times,
keep your supplies,
not don't overuse the supplies,
don't have too much supplies, don't have them
aging out, so to speak.
There's a formula, but
it all really goes back to the culture
that you
have as the basis of everything. And
sometimes I think that's what people miss when
you're in that sessions or whatever and hear
people talking about, you know, what they need
to do at this level or that level.
That's great.
But if you don't have the basis
of a great culture,
it's gonna be harder
and sometimes in vain.
So I tell you when I got to
Lakeshore,
the first one of the first things I
started to do is going in the OR
with the surgeons. I might only go in
for 10, 15, 20 minutes, but you're not
gonna catch a surgeon before or after cases
or in between.
They're too busy. So I started
developing relationship with them in the OR. Wow.
Okay? And then as far as staff go,
I got to know them on a personal
basis. Doesn't mean we weren't going out for
drinks afterwards, not that sort of thing. It's
like,
oh, I know what their kids how many
kids do they have? What are their kids'
names? You know, you just get to know
them on a personal level, somewhat. So when
you sit down for important discussion, you know,
I don't go,
Laura, you know, there's a real problem
with the way you've been using profanity in
them always.
Hey, Laura, how's your little baby doing?
Isn't that great? You know, and
develop that so when you have to deal
with the hard topics, you have a relationship.
And then with the customer, I was I
have an advantage that might not look like
it. My office is off the waiting room.
It was initially intended to be a children's
waiting room.
So
no patient comes in or out. Without going
by my office, I can hear everything that's
happening. Oh, wow. I can go out and,
you know, oh, hi. I'm Sherry. Is everything
good? You know, have you waited too long?
You look worried. Are you waiting for somebody?
Oh, let me go check on them. You
know? So you build that engagement with those
3 parties.
It's magic. It really is magic. It's just
not overnight, but it's magic. Yeah. It could
it takes a lot of time and you
like you said, to build that trusting relationship,
especially with your team and then, you know,
the cadence with patients too and that to
really,
embody
what you're trying to do with the surgery
center. Yes. So that that's great to hear,
and I know that trust as well with
the patients is really important.
From your perspective, how can leaders ensure their
staff are are well equipped to,
deal with some of the challenges? Obviously, you
know, if you're coming, out of your office
and being able to handle things, that's great.
But,
on the staff side as well, how do
you make sure they're ready to,
connect with with the patients that have the
similar sort of
trust that they can build with them.
The staff have now become
so engaged.
I know my staff that they care about
the patients. I know their skills,
and I know that they want us to
do well.
So
they I can trust them with that.
And when it's maybe a bad day for
them, the patient's not gonna see it. Mhmm.
I think because of that groundwork, that's how
it translates for the patients. And once in
a while,
you may forget. And so here's an exercise
we're gonna do, 1st week in December.
It's actually me.
I'm going in for a colonoscopy and an
EGD.
And I'm going to come in take
a picture of everything I see as I
walk in the front desk, as I go
to my, you know, the gurney, as I'm
going down the hall and take pictures of
the ceiling. I'm going to look at everything
through the eyes of a patient, and then
we're going to take those pictures.
And we're gonna sit down with a pizza
or whatever and look and see, this is
what the patient saw. Is there something here
we could do better? Yeah. And just keep
improving on it that way. And then I'm
not having
a surgery per se, staff member have a
fake surgery and do the same thing. You
know, go and see the big glare of
the lights, you know,
everything. So look at it through the patient's
perspective. And I think that's why our satisfaction
rate is so high
because our nurses, they have empathy. Yeah. And
that's really powerful. And I love that idea.
I'm wondering too, you know, when you look
at all the different,
possibilities and conversations they have to have, one
of the more challenging ones can be, you
know, the, the financial side, the patient responsibility,
collections,
from the patient. So how do you equip
your team to handle those kinds of conversations
as well? Yes. Well,
that's an important thing, of course.
And I had a new front office person
and she's so efficient,
you know, great efficient. She's gonna get it
collected, the whole thing. But maybe she was
just a little bit hard may not be
the right word, but
too efficient, not warm and fuzzy enough. So
we had to balance that a little bit.
But we let them know beforehand that it's
gonna be collected. When they come with, yes,
we need to collect it today. So it's
being firm in your policies, but nice.
Yeah. I mean, genuinely,
you know, we care about you. You're here
for your surgery. We told you you need
$250 today
and how would you like to take care
of that?
Yeah. You just do it in a caring,
empathetic way and
you have to have done the roadwork first.
Mhmm. The patient has to know before they
walk up to your window that day,
you know. Yeah. That they are gonna have
to they'll have to Right. Right. Yeah. That's
such an excellent point.
Before we wrap up our conversation here, is
there anything else you'd like to talk about
or mention
or add even for other ASC administrators
and folks who really are looking to continue
to grow and develop successfully in the next
couple of years? What is important for them
to know and understand?
I think and I can't push it home
enough, but my PhD is in leadership, so
maybe I'm a little bent towards that. But,
yeah, you get your formula together
for how to run an e an an
ASC efficiently,
but builds your culture so that it's good
for the long term.
I just can't emphasize it enough because I
think that a lot of leaders think it's
a soft skill
to engage.
It's not. It's it's what's gonna make your
business successful in that. It needs to be
recognized for how valuable it is.
That I just can't say it enough.
Well, I love that. Thank you so much,
Sherry, for being here today. This has been
a really fun conversation. I look forward to
connecting with you again soon. Thank you, Lauren.
My pleasure.