This is Laura Dierda with the Becker's healthcare
podcast.
I'm thrilled today to be joined by Todd
Currier,
administrator and CEO at Bend Surgery Center. Todd,
it's a pleasure to have you on the
podcast today. Thank you, Laura.
Now I'm looking forward to our conversation. I
know we're gonna dig into some big topics
looking at ASC growth and development and some
of the cool things you're doing at Bend.
But before we dive in, I was wondering,
can you please take a moment to introduce
yourself and tell us a little bit more
about your work in the industry?
You bet. As you stated, my name is
Todd Currier, and
work at Bend Surgery Center. And we are
a large ASC in Bend, Oregon. We have
8 ORs and 6 procedure rooms.
We've expanded a few years ago to get
to that point, so we're still on the
expansion stage of,
case volume. But I also serve on the
Oregon
ASC Association board and also the ASCA board.
Fantastic. And, you know, 2 very important organizations
from the Oregon ASC Association and ASCA, really,
you know, doing a lot for the industry.
So thank you for your service there.
Now I know ASC volume across the country
is expected to increase by around 16%
by 2,032 or so. With this growth in
mind, what are some of the most pressing
challenges to maintaining a positive patient experience?
I think one of the biggest challenges we're
facing, that everybody's facing, is just the shortage
of clinical staff and anesthesia providers. That's our
our current needs.
But with the anticipated growth, we will need
to continue to work on the efficiency of
our processes while maintaining
a strong patient experience.
I think reminding and educating our staff of
the culture of ASCs, the reason we exist,
and the benefits we provide to the community
are essential in making
the patient experience the best it can be.
That's such a good point. And, you know,
I think having that ability to put resources
into the patient experience is not
a luxury or something that surgery centers have
always thought about. And so, you know, when
you may not have a huge budget for
some of those things, what can you do,
to really ensure that, you know, you are
on the right track, some things to start
off with, and then as you grow, can
continue to invest in that space? Like, what
we've done is we've created a nickname that
the culture club. Yes. But it's a staff
led group that is focused on, you know,
that's focused on staff morale, but also events
that will,
overall lead to educating our staff about the
patient experience and the patient process.
And so,
looking at it as
under the
umbrella that you are the patient and you
know, think about what your experience would be
if you walk through our facility and, you
know, take that personal aspect of
the the overall,
encounter
and internalize it.
I think that's helped out a lot of
their staff to be able to go through
that.
It seems like a really powerful way to
boil up some of the potential challenges and
then be able to solve them in in
short order. So I appreciate you sharing that
with us. Now what are some of the
challenges,
and strategies that have worked for you, your
organization to tackle these challenges?
What's one of the recommendations you have for
healthcare leaders to stay ahead?
I think
one main strategy we're using is really focusing
on, you know, kind of that service industry
aspect. You know, the whole, you know, treating
the patient as you would like to be
treated yourself when you're a patient.
But probably how we do that is related
to monitoring our survey results
and,
giving that feedback back to our staff, you
know, both the positive and the negatives when
we there's a negative comment because,
every single
comment is,
is worthy of exploring why somebody,
commented that way. They took the time to
make a comment. So it was a positive
comment, you know, what did we do? Did
we do anything different for that patient or
it's a negative comment?
Let's dive into it. What made it a
negative experience? Is it something indicative of what
we're doing or is this just a one
off situation? But even those one off situations,
it
you you really don't want those out in
the community.
Mhmm. And so you need to figure out,
you know, what happened on that particular case,
reaching out to those those
patients to ensure that,
you know, that experience that will will not
happen again.
That's such a great point. You know, it's
so important to have those community connections when
I know so much of what the ASC
does in growth comes from word-of-mouth and the
reputation within the community. So,
I appreciate, you know, the work that it
must take in order to answer those and
address,
the challenges as well as think through, you
know, the, the positive notes in what you
can do to double down there. I I
think,
one of the things our culture club developed
was it really worked on our vision
and values.
And one of the values and came out
was the service we provide to our community.
And that that was a staff led,
program. And so they're they're really focused on
what we do for our community and whether
that's just the internal patient experience, but also
what's happening in our community on on the
external side.
That's really great to hear and I was
just gonna ask about anything you change as
a result of any of these initiatives and
so that's
cool to hear that you're able to take
really actionable steps based on the observations and
the culture club, as well as some of
the other things that you're working through.
Now, how can leaders ensure that their staff
are well trained and equipped to help patients
navigate,
especially the financial aspects of their care? I
I know, you know, the health care economics
are always changing,
and and for surgery centers in particular, you
don't wanna leave, any money on the table,
but you still need a great experience for
the patients, you know, when it comes to,
the payment process. So what does that look
like for you?
You know, I don't I don't really think
nothing's
new here. Patients really need to be educated
about their own insurance plans they have. That's
really they don't understand the plans they have.
A lot of plans now are the higher
deductibles,
higher co pays.
And so really
going through the process
of educating them on what their plan provides,
and it helps soften the blow of what
a financial impact might be. You know, they
may owe
a a larger portion to the surgery center,
and,
they may be upset about that, probably rightfully
so. You know, it's it's hard to come
up with some of the the the money
that might be owed, but it's also educating
them that it's not us as much as
what their plan is offering.
And so I I think it's a big
component. It's something that over the years we've
we've had to focus more on. Mhmm.
Absolutely.
And, you know, when you think about that
being able to work through, you know, some
of those dynamics, obviously,
it's their health plan, but, you know, you're
the people in front of them having to
to explain all this to them. So how
do you build that relationship? How does that
benefit, you know, the patient provider relationships and
being able to have that level of trust
or that level of,
care in the approach to these con conversations?
I I think it's really just the honesty
approach. You know, this is this is what
your plan provides. This is something we'll work
with you through this process so that you
fully understand,
what is happening. And I think the biggest
part is, being honest with the patient
and following through with what their plan provides,
walking them through the steps,
allowing them to,
express
how they feel about it and then working
on if there's a payment arrangement we can
work out, that's what we work towards. That's
great to hear. Now, is there anything else
that we didn't talk about that you'd like
to add? Anything you feel is really important
for ASC leaders to know and understand, especially
especially as they're thinking about the future and,
you know, things are always changing within the
health care space. And so I would love
to just open it up. Anything else you'd
like to mention?
I guess for me, going into the future,
I truly believe we all need to be
actively engaged in advocacy for our ASC associations.
ASC associations.
We can't afford to sit on the sidelines
and let bureaucracy
take over or be dictated
without providing a voice for our industry.
You know, ASCs, as has been said many
times, you know, we have a great story
to tell, and we need to keep telling
it. You know, with our phenomenal patient quality,
our lower infection
risk,
higher patient satisfaction,
and lower cost,
you know, we have to keep telling that
story to the community,
to our legislators.
It
sometimes get repetitive, but we need to also
understand that
the if we if we stay silent, things
will, you know, be dictated by others. And
we we have to stand up and say,
you know, we we deserve
reasonable reimbursement rates. You know, our staffing costs
have increased exponentially
over the last few years.
And, you know, the cost of inflation for
the supply cost, the materials, that's increased exponentially,
and the reimbursement rates have not followed.
And so it's something that
everybody it takes everybody to be to be
involved in advocacy. And so I encourage everybody
to step up, reach out to whether it's
your state association packs or the national pack.
It's something that we need to be involved
with.
That's such a great point and a great
note to end on, Todd. Thank you so
much for joining us on the podcast today.
I appreciate your time and and definitely learned
a lot. Look forward to connecting with you
again soon. Yeah. Thank you, Laura.