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forward slash beckers podcast.
This is Gracelyn Keller with the Becker's Healthcare
Podcast, and we are live at the business
and operations of ASCs.
I'm joined right now by Helen Lowenworth, who
is an administrator at Eastside Endoscopy. So, Helen,
thank you for joining me today. You're welcome.
We'd love to have you start off by
taking a moment to introduce yourself and telling
us a little bit more about your role.
K. Well, thank you for having me.
Again, my name is Helen Lowenworth. I'm the
administrator
at Eastside Endoscopy, which is located in, New
York City.
We have five procedure rooms,
single specialty endoscopy.
So So the majority of our work is
screening colonoscopies
and upper endoscopies.
And we do about 12,000 procedures every year.
Wonderful. Well, thank you for taking the time
today.
Let's start our conversation here with ASC volume.
So this this is expected to increase by
16%
across the country by the year 02/1932.
What are the most pressing challenges to maintaining
a positive patient experience?
Okay. Well, I'm sure I'm not the first
one to sit here during the course of
this conference and mention
the staffing challenges that we have in ambulatory
centers.
It it's and it it just goes to
a post COVID environment with physicians,
retiring, anesthesiology
shortages,
and nursing, basically nursing.
And on another hand, we don't hear too
much about it, but with the the break
in education,
our medical assistants, which really play a very
valuable role in the centers as,
technicians,
surgical techs in the Operating Rooms and procedure
rooms, endoscopy techs in my particular case, there's
a real shortage because they come out of
those MA programs which were sort of halted
for a few years. So that's that's really
our biggest challenge.
But we're, we're rising to the occasion and
I think that,
hospital systems and even patients are realizing
the, that ambulatory surgery centers are a good
alternative
for them to get great care.
We have great outcomes.
And nurses,
once they come to work in the centers,
they like it. And so the retention, it's
a little challenging, but,
I think we'll be able to meet the
increase over the next few years.
Wonderful.
And going off of that, what strategies have
worked for your organization as you tackle some
of those challenges? And what's one recommendation that
you have for health care leaders to stay
ahead? Okay. Well, you know, it it's an
old cliche, but your
your people are your most valuable asset. And
so I think it's,
it's hard
for,
we're so busy
and time is a limited,
quantity,
but
you have to find the time to invest
in your staff,
help them
grow their
professionalism and their their credentials,
give them the tools they need, embrace new
technologies,
get them involved in
as much as 90% of the work we
do is is patient care. There's also a
lot of other areas
with committee work and quality studies
and some very interesting,
new technologies coming out. And when you engage
the staff and give them little projects and
get them involved and they see the potential
in the future,
it really does help to retain get for
them to stay because they're they're not bored
or they're finding something that maybe maybe piques
their interest and they're good at. And then
and so I think that's
that's really something we have to embrace and
continue to to,
develop with our staffing.
Absolutely. Well, let's shift gears just a little
bit to the financial side. How can leaders
ensure their staff are well equipped to help
patients navigate the financial aspects of care, and
how does this benefit patient provider relationships?
Well, this is one of my favorite topics
because I am not a clinical person by
background. I am a business,
businessperson. I've been working in administration
all of my career and have managed, oh,
three or four different types of health care
organizations.
And the unsung heroes in in in the,
the area of front office operations,
scheduling,
insurance verifications,
understanding
that market is very complicated.
And it's important
that we really understand that because we spend
a lot of time educating
patients about their health insurance.
They really don't understand it.
And so
it, and it's very important now. There's all
sorts of laws out there about surprise bills
and
you know, now you're not even going to
be able to do take collections to a
certain level. And we don't we don't want
to. We want patients who have insurance. We
want them to use their insurance properly.
We want them to understand,
direct them to the insurance companies when they
have questions, but it's a big effort.
But, and a lot of people don't understand
it. So in, in my center and in
a lot of,
a lot of ambulatory centers, because we, we
don't get that type of reimbursements hospitals get.
So we have to be very efficient and
we have to collect money. And so
it's it's worth investing and training your staff,
having the necessary tools
so that we can provide the service
and remain profitable.
Absolutely. Well, as we wrap our conversation here
today, is there anything else you'd like to
share on the podcast? Well,
on on my now I'll put on my
hat, my other hat. I'm a a member
of the New York State Association for Ambulatory
Surgery Centers,
and I have been for about six or
seven years now. And, and I encourage everybody
to get involved with their local state
association. I think all states have them. There's
a couple of regional ones as well. Everything
that we're impacted by happens at the state
level for the most part,
aside from Medicare, but there's a lot going
on in The States. New York is highly
regulated in terms of health care, and we
have made major, major strides
in,
being recognized as an important part of the
health care system in New York state.
We we do advocacy days in Albany. We've
had our elected officials visit ambulatory centers,
and it has helped advance our cause in
New York. So,
I I really think that's very important. I
encourage everybody to do that.
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for taking
the time to join me today on the
Becker's healthcare podcast and sharing your insights. Again,
we are live at the business and operations
of ASCs.
Thank you.