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This is Rosie Talago with the Becker's Healthcare

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podcast.

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Today, I'm thrilled to be joined by Allison

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Engel, physician at Integrated Pain Management to talk

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about some of the biggest trends in the

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ASC industry.

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Doctor Engel, it's a pleasure to have you

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join us today. Could you please take a

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moment to introduce yourself and your work in

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the industry?

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Yes. Thank you for having me.

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I am a double board certified anesthesiologist

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and interventional pain specialist.

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I work at an ambulatory surgery center and

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private practice clinic. We have 2 ASCs that

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I primarily

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operate out of. They are 100%

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physician owned, and they are multi specialty.

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Thank you. So our first question is that

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the ASC volume across the country is expected

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to increase by 16% by

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to be well trained

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and understand the service oriented aspect of health

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care to make sure patients feel like they're

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being heard,

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their needs and,

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desires are being met,

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and that they're being serviced,

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as well as they feel safe. And so

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making sure that we have

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good staff that when we hire new people

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as we expand,

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that they understand the business model, they understand

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the patient population,

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and they understand the needs of the patients

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and how to communicate effectively in those settings.

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So we make sure we have solid staff

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trained,

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and they are good team players. They work

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together. They reach out for any requests, concerns,

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and that we have, mentors within

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the organization

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for each with an MA, a nurse practitioner,

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an anesthesiologist,

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our PACU nurses.

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Whatever their,

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expertise is, we make sure that they understand

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their roles and how the company operates and

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who they would go to with questions.

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So along with having a strong staff and

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communication among those staff members,

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what strategies have worked for you and your

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organization to tackle some of these 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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So we make sure our,

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ASC has more of a family oriented team

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environment that everyone kind of

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works together and we

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it's like we are excited to go to

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work. We're excited to take care of our

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patients.

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We're excited to work as a team together.

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We have fun lunches. We,

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have parties

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for the staff outside. So it doesn't feel

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like you're just going to work every day.

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It feels like you're going to see your

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friends and family, but we keep it very

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professional when we are there. It also makes

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people, I feel like, break down some of

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those barriers of people speaking up and asking

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questions.

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It's not just they're speaking up to the

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surgeon in the room. They're speaking up to

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someone that they already have had conversations with.

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They've already voiced their opinion or concerns

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through meetings or out of work meetings.

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And so

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it makes for a good workflow and it

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makes for a good communication.

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Really, where we see patient safety issues breakdown

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in medicine

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is in communication. So I really want my

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staff to communicate well and feel comfortable communicating

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in all settings and bringing things to,

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the the leadership. And we have that in

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our surgery center. Everyone feels like they're a

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key player, and they're very important to making

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sure patients safe, workflows,

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goes well, and that we operate as a

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team. That's great. That's great to have a

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great team environment as well as a good

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work life balance. Yeah.

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Lastly,

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how can leaders ensure their staff are well

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equipped to help patients navigate the financial aspects

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of their care? And how does this benefit

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the patient provider relationship?

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Yeah. We have a robust,

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billing and finance team, and they communicate well,

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again, communication with the patients

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and with the insurance companies, the the payers.

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And they

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make sure that the prior auths are put

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through. If they're not, they communicate with our

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staff on the on on our end what

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we need to do to help get,

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denial turned over.

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And

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we also make sure patients know their cost

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upfront. And if they have any questions and

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making sure the patients

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can also have a voice mail, whether they

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want to proceed or not. So just schedule

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something, we make sure they know it would

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cost you this much for this procedure afterwards.

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So kind of that price transparency

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and,

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also working our best. Our billing team actually

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it's

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this is a community. It's our community. We

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wanna take care of our people. So it's

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nice that our billing team does care about

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our patients too,

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not just their clinical care and the business.

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They wanna make sure they get that cost

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as low as possible for patients too

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because financial health is very similar

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to clinical health. We want you to be

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better, not just clinically, but also

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financially can be stressful as well. Yeah. Absolutely.

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Thank you so much. Well, thank you for

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joining us today. It's been a pleasure, and

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we look forward to connecting with you soon.

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Thank you.