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This is Gracelyn Keller with the Becker's Healthcare
Podcast, and we are live at the business
and operations of ASCs.
I am currently joined by Gerald Garcia, who
is the CEO of Hawaii Institute
For Pain and the Surgical Suites of Honolulu.
Gerald, thanks for being here today. Would love
to have you take a moment to introduce
yourself and tell us a little bit more
about your role in the industry.
Thank you for having me. So my name
is Gerald Garcia. People call me Jerry. I
am a board certified anesthesiologist
and interventional
pain specialist. I'm a physician,
founder of the Hawaii Institute For Pain,
as well as the
Surgical Suites of Honolulu. I'm also cofounder
of,
Stem Cell and Wellness Institute. So those 3,
businesses complement each other. So one is a
medical practice clinic
based out of Hawaii,
and the other is an ASC, a single
specialty ASC, the surgical suites of Honolulu.
And then we have a concierge
stem cell and wellness Institute,
which compliments
the,
needs of
of our chronic pain patients.
Wonderful. Did you travel all the way here
from Hawaii? I did. All the way from
Honolulu. Well, thank you for making the long
journey. Oh, thank you. Thank you for having
me. It's an honor.
Alright. Well, let's start our conversation,
with ASC volumes. So this is expected to
increase by 16%
across the country by the year 2032.
So with this growth, what is the most
pressing challenge to maintaining a positive patient experience?
I think by far, the biggest challenge that
we currently face and anticipate to face in
the next
few years
is staffing shortage.
That is a nationwide phenomenon,
that
leads to overworked
staff, which can severely co compromise customer service.
So for example, if your MA is focused,
which is short for medical assistant, is focused
on
just patient care for an entire day and
you don't have an extra pair of hands
to take the phone calls, then you'll have
several customers, patients calling
without getting a response for
an entire day. And that is one ex
example of, you know, leading to patient dissatisfaction.
You also have the challenge of increasing cost
of doing business, rent, labor,
supplies,
while the reimbursement is not keeping in pace.
So invariably,
you're forced to increase your patient volume to
to even make, you know, decent,
profit margin,
which is not big to begin with.
And in essence,
more patient
volume just
compromises,
again, the patient experience.
And going along with that,
what strategies have worked for your organization to
tackle some of those challenges? And what's one
recommendation you have for health care leaders to
stay ahead?
So
that's a 2 pronged question that I'd like
to start by answering the second one,
which is,
what recommendation
do I have for healthcare leaders to stay
ahead? Which also answers the first question, which
is the strategies involved to tackle these,
challenges.
So
my one big recommendation
is to
make sure your organization
has a mission.
And that mission
should be patient centered
and really something
service oriented,
where you are trying to make a big
difference,
to the people you serve, the patients you
serve, and the community
that you serve.
And
once you have that mission,
have core values to back it up and
create this culture in your company
of
we are all part of a bigger purpose.
We are not just doing our individual tasks.
A doctor isn't just doing his procedures. A
janitor isn't just cleaning the room. All this
contribute to a bigger mission,
which is to give patients whatever it is,
the best possible experience,
the best possible outcomes,
etcetera.
And once you have that, make sure that's
inculcated upon your your staff, your employees so
that they know
that their tasks aren't just tasks, that they
are part of something bigger.
And when you have that, then it's easier
for employees to
go the extra mile, especially when they're short
staffed
to
do extra things for patients,
for the company,
when they know that they're part of something
bigger.
And shifting gears just slightly to the financial
side, how can leaders ensure their staff are
well equipped to help patients navigate financial aspects
of care? And how does this benefit patient
provider relationships?
So transparency is always
a key in this and making sure that
you have a staff that is always discussing
in contact with patients,
making them know what their financial obligations are,
what things are covered, what things are not.
An example that I have is,
conscious sedation or sedation. We do a lot
of these interventional pain procedures,
and a lot of them are not considered
medically necessary to have sedation, yet some patients
insist on having
it. Well, for as long as they know
that, okay, this is not gonna be prior
to the actual day itself,
that, you know, your sedation will not be
covered most likely.
And if it's not, you're gonna be charged
x amount.
Then I think that that
leads to a better experience for the patient
because then
when you have an educated, informed patient, you
you have a happy patient. You have a
happy patient. You have better,
patient provider relationships.
The other thing is I it's important to
to see your billing team
and your financial team as part of the
interdisciplinary
team for patient centered care. They are not
just a bunch of people
hidden in the background, doing all the billings,
computer stuff.
They should be part of the patient experience.
They need to be given the ability
to interact with patients and giving the tools
to
for them to deal with patients appropriately.
So that's that's pretty much it, is making
sure that your billing team is part of
the financial
or part of the interdisciplinary
team.
And as we wrap our conversation up, do
you have any parting words to share on
the podcast today?
This is a challenging
time to be
doing this type of a business.
There are a lot of, moving parts or
a lot of unknowns.
But at the end of the day,
if you focus on your mission so for
example, the mission of my company
is to give chronic pain sufferers
the best possible outcome while giving them the
best possible experience
and making sure that that
your mission is not just money. Your mission
is to really make a difference.
I think everything else will follow. And so
for as long as you keep holding true
to that core value, that core mission,
all these challenges,
all these
uncertainties
are easier to face head on.
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for taking
the time to share these insights today on
the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. Again, we are live
at the business and operations of ASCs.
Thank you, Caitlin.