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This is Rosie Talaga with the Becker's Healthcare

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podcast. Today, I'm thrilled to be joined by

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Tina Driggers, administrator of day surgery center, to

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talk about some of the biggest trends in

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the ASC industry. Tina, it's a pleasure to

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have you on the podcast today. Can you

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please take a moment to introduce yourself and

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your work in the industry?

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Sure.

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My name is Tina Driggers.

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I've been at the Day Surgery Center in

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Winter Haven, Florida for 18 years, and I've

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been the administrator there since January of 2021.

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We're a multispecialty

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physician owned facility.

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Great. Thank you so much. So our first

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question regards the fact that

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ASC volume across the country is expected to

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increase by 16%

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by 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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Our most complained about things are wait time

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and money.

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So educating patients on their benefits is important

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and,

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patient expectation of the wait time.

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Obviously, we tell them to come early because

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you have to check-in.

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You have to have IVs started. You have

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to have all those things, and they expect

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there to be no wait time for that.

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And then also,

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explaining to them that sometimes things take longer

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than we schedule them for.

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So just keeping them

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updated

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on their wait time. That is our biggest

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complaint from the patients.

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And, also,

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finding and maintaining the right staff

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to utilize,

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for those things. Mhmm. And when looking at

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issues such as wait time or staffing issues,

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What are some strategies that have worked for

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your organization to tackle these challenges, and what's

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a recommendation you have for healthcare leaders to

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stay ahead?

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We monitor the surgeons' OR time so that

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we can adjust those. We work with their

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offices to take care of that,

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and our surgery schedulers.

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We also had a issue with our surgeons

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being tardy. So we have a tardy surgeon,

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policy. So if they're late, they're punished for

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that. So

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that has worked out well for us for

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the start time in the mornings.

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Sometimes we adjust their arrival time,

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sometimes 2 hours, sometimes 1 and a half,

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sometimes 1, depending on the surgeon. So those

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are,

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things that we have done to take care

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of that. Great. Thank you. Mhmm. Another challenge

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that's prevalent is the payment and financial aspects.

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So how can leaders ensure their staff are

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well equipped to help patients navigate the financial

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aspects of their care? And how does this

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benefit patient to provider relationships?

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Okay.

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Staff education.

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I know some providers like UnitedHealthcare

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just want to

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have,

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things that you can go to for education

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education for your staff.

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I think it's important to discuss those things

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with the offices so that they're aware,

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of what we can and can't do and

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how much that's gonna cost a patient. We

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we make lists for our surgeons,

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so they have a list of things that

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we can and can't do per

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insurance. Basically, we take

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pretty much everything, workers' comp,

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commercial, Medicare, Medicare Advantage. So we we put

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them out that way. It's really helpful to

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the staff

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so that patients aren't upset whenever they get

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scheduled somewhere

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and they can't be done there. So they

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put them where they belong

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at the beginning. Right.

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Yeah. Kind of relates to the transparency you

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talked about with wait time. Mhmm. It's also

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being transparent for what can be done, what

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can't be done, and what those prices might

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look like. Mhmm. That's great. So if there's

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lastly, if there's anything else we didn't talk

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about or something that's on the top of

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your mind is the AIC industry that you'd

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like to talk about.

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I think most everybody,

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has issues with anesthesia.

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Mhmm. Something we all talk about all the

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time.

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Our anesthesia providers

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or anesthesiologists

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are owners at our facility, so that's advantageous

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for us.

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But, their staff is our staff. That's how

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we treat them. If our staff gets a

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gift, they also get that gift. I think

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it's important to make them

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part of your family so that they stay

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where they're very short in supply.

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So Got it. Well, thank you so much.

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And thank you for joining us today, and

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thank you for speaking with us at the

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event. It's been a pleasure, and we look

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forward to connecting with you soon. Thank you.