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This is Gracelyn Keller with the Becker's Healthcare

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Podcast, and we are live at the business

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and operations of ASCs.

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I'm currently joined by Ali Galani, who is

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the ASC admin

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Munster Surgery Center. So, Ali, thanks for joining

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me today. We'd love to have you start

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off by introducing yourself a little bit further

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and telling us more about your work in

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the industry.

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Of course. Nice to be here. My name

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is Ali Galani. I'm the administrator at Munster

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Surgery Center.

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It's a, pain specialist ASC in, Northwest Indiana,

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Monster, Indiana.

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We have around 3 ORs and, 10, prep

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and recovery base.

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And I've been in health care for around

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15 years,

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last,

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4 of them in ASCs.

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Wonderful.

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Well, let's start our conversation today with ASC

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volume. So across the country, this is expected

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to increase by 16%

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by 2032.

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With this growth, what are the most challenging

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issues to maintaining a positive patient experience?

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Great question. I believe one of the biggest

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challenges in the industry today is staffing.

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Keeping up with the staff, especially

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not just any staff, quality staff that who

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can, work in harmony with physicians and, deliver

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the job correctly, that's very important. The ex

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patient expectations also are now

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high. They are they're expecting more. They expect,

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more seamless process from the appointment scheduling, all

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the way to the post op phone calls.

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So,

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basically, that's also

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on leadership just to provide the necessary,

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technology to to make this process

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even more efficient.

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So in addition to that, basically, also to

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keep up with the guidelines and regulations,

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that's also one of the challenges.

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ASCs are growing, as you said, and the

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the regulations are getting more complex now. And

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so, basically, you have to be up to

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date, up to speed with all the, guidelines,

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the regulations, accreditations, etcetera.

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And kinda going along with that, what strategies

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have worked for your organization to tackle those

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challenges?

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And what's one recommendation you have for health

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care leaders to stay ahead?

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Regarding staffing, what what we did, basically,

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we adopted the method of cross training. So,

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basically, we take the

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prep and recovery staff, train them in the

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OR and vice versa, our OR staff or

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or or nurses trained in the prep and

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recovery areas so they can cover each other,

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if, we have any shortage of, or any

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specific event.

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Same thing with MAs, same thing with the

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front desk. We trained our MAs to, handle

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admitting and registration

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so they can also fill in the if

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needed,

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basically, and make the process,

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go keep going.

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And shifting gears a little bit toward the

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financial side, how can leaders ensure their staff

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are well equipped to help patients navigate the

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financial aspects of care, and how does this

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benefit patient provider relationships?

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It's like very I think that's tied also

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to staff development.

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Basically, when leadership and management invest in their

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staff, that will end up turning to their

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benefits, basically, to keep the staff especially the

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front desk, or the,

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admitting slash registration staff. They need to be

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aware of all kind of insurance

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contract. They need to, be aware of what

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options the ASC can provide

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to help the patient if they cannot commit

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financially.

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So all of that is very important. And,

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actually, I have an experience with us, basically,

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when we conduct surveys every month,

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every every week, but we collect them and

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evaluate them every month. And we realized

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that some some patients I put on the

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comment section that they did not get a

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clear specification about what

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their balance is,

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and also the co pays.

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So we adopted

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a new process

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to keep calling the patients ahead of their

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appointments just to make sure that they are

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aware of their balance and they are aware

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of their co pay depending.

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And as we wrap up our conversation, are

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there any parting words you'd like to share

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or anything else you'd like to share on

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the podcast?

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Yes. So, basically, in the ASC world, to

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have an a successful ASC,

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now we just need to have a satisfied

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provider, a satisfied patient, and satisfied staff. A

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satisfied provider by keeping the

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very good time management and process everything very

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efficiently, the doctors need to go in and

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out fast, go back to their clinic, and

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see their see their patients.

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Same thing for our patients. Satisfied patients will

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will end up basically just going keep going

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back, providing quality service. And

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we are in pain, so, basically, we're treating

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pain, and for patients, and they we are

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happy to say that, basically, we see the

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results. We see their life get, much, much

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better than before before and after the procedure.

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And happy staff, and satisfied staff, keep the

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staff engaged, keep staff focused more on developing

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the staff. Once they see the, the center

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vision and once they see where the leadership

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is going, they're gonna be more engaged. They're

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gonna be more committed to provide all the

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quality service that we're looking for.

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Wonderful. Well, Ali, thanks 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 ASCs. Thanks so much. Thank you so

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much for having me.