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Today's clinical providers and health care systems need

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a strategic partner that is focused on the

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evolution of health care delivery.

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At Surgery Partners, we are redefining the health

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care industry

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as a nation's leading independent operator of surgical

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facilities and ancillary services.

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With an extensive presence spanning over 180

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locations nationwide,

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our commitment extends beyond health care.

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It's about fostering successful partnerships

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that enhance the quality of care in the

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communities we serve.

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Surgery Partners is more than an operator or

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service provider.

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We are your strategic ally committed to transforming

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health care delivery.

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Learn more @surgerypartners.com.

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Hello, and welcome to the Becker's Healthcare podcast.

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My name is Chanel Bonger. Today, I am

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recording live at the twenty second annual Spine

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Orthopedic and Pain Management Driven ASC

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plus the Future of Spine Conference and sitting

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down with doctor Scott Hannum, partner at Emerge

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Ortho and president medical director at Brunswick Surgery

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Center. Doctor Hannum, thank you so much for

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joining me. Well, thank you for having me

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today. Perfect. Well, to get us started out,

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can you please introduce yourself and tell us

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a bit about your background and organizations?

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So I am a total joint orthopedic surgeon

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by training.

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This is my

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twenty seventh year in practice, which is hard

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to imagine.

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I am a partner at Emerge Orthopedics. Emerge

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Orthopedics is a large independent

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orthopedic super group in, North Carolina.

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We've been in existence, I think, about eight

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years now, and basically, it was a collective

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of,

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multiple different independent orthopedic groups in the state

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of North Carolina and Wilmington, North Carolina where

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I'm at, and then Raleigh, North Carolina, Winston

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Salem, Greensboro, Asheville,

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All came they came together to form that

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large independent orthopedic practice.

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Eight years ago, we started our own independent,

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physician owned surgery center,

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in Wilmington

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that, opened the door six years ago,

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right in the midst of COVID, which was

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perfect timing on our part,

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for a lot of chaos. But we were

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successful and we made it through. And,

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now we do,

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about 4,500

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surgeries a year and four operating rooms and

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very busy, very successful.

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So, I,

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have taken over the role and administrator

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and medical director of that facility in addition

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to my patient care duties.

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Got it. Got it. Well, now moving into

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the meat of the podcast a bit, can

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you talk about three top trends that you're

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watching today in health care and ASCs today

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in your role?

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Well, I think and again, I'm sure you've

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already had people comment on this. But, you

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know, the trend in orthopedics

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specifically

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and COVID was

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a a catalyst

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because we couldn't do surgery in the hospitals.

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But the trend

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of moving the majority

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of orthopedic

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surgeries to an outpatient setting was already happening,

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and then, again, COVID accelerated it. And so

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we're definitely seeing that. There's no question that

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we can safely and successfully

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do

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seventy, eighty percent

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of most, if not all, orthopedic surgeries at

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ASC.

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And so that's a good and a bad

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problem. It's a good for patients. Patient care

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is better.

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The outcomes are better. The risk of infections

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are lower.

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But

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we don't have the facilities to do that

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many surgeries.

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And there's a lot of regulations

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in many states in the country about opening

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ASCs,

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who can own them, how fast you can

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build them, etcetera. And so there's a there's

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a an access issue,

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which is

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a good and a bad thing for ASCs.

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So that's one huge trend is the increasing

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numbers in orthopedist

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pedic cases that have to be done.

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I think, you know, there's there's the the

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marketplace of it. The the federal government, unfortunately,

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does not reimburse surgeries to be done at

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an ASC at the same rate that they

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do at a hospital or even an outpatient

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hospital setting, which is inappropriate.

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It's the same surgery. It's the same care.

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If anything, we're more efficient and we're cheaper,

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with better outcomes. And so

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that is a huge

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lobbying

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effort that has to be done on the

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national level, which is not easy.

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So that's that is a threat and an

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issue that's influencing the economics of ASCs,

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most definitely.

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Got it. Got it. And going into the

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second half of twenty twenty five, what are

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you most focused on and excited about?

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Well, I think, you know, again, we talked

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about, you know, what's happening in the trends,

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and and it's it's exciting. It's a challenge.

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You know? How do we how do we

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overcome the access issue? How do we,

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enable patients to have their surgery at an

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outpatient facility? I could be more efficient and

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be more cost effective in order to do

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that. So that's an exciting thing.

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I think technology is always fun. That's a

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fun trend.

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You know,

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again, everybody wants to talk about AI and

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what is AI doing. And and 90% of

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people don't even know what it is, but

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they wanna talk about it.

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But it's a reality, and it's changing. We're

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seeing it incrementally

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in our in our, way we document cases,

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the way we do,

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patient visits, the way we do operative notes,

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little AI programs that we're using for,

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billing and collection and keep listening and all

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that.

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All that. Yeah. All the above. And then

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even just the technology that we have with

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the surgery, you know, with robotic surgery and

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other things, that's very exciting. It's very fun,

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you know, to see where that goes and

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how that can,

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make us even more efficient and and

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improve I think it will improve

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health care economics. So we can figure out

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how to do it correctly

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with the right vendors and the right smart

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people writing a good software. We can

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we can be more efficient

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and deliver better care to patients.

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A lot of cautious optimism?

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I think so. Yeah. Got it. And,

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I really enjoyed our time today. But before

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I let you go, I have one more

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question. How are you thinking about growth over

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the next year or so at your organizations?

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Well, we are a big proponent of independent

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medical practices.

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So Emerge Ortho

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is probably the sixth or seventh largest independent

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orthopedic practice in the in the country.

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But

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even that is not enough. So

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our biggest driver is how do we partner

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with other like minded independent orthopedic groups around

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the country.

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So we have

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a a, an organization called PELTO, which is

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a conglomerate of

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many different independent orthopedic groups from the West

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Coast, from the Midwest,

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Northeast, and then also North Carolina.

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How do we come together to maintain independent

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practices,

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like minded

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care of patients,

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collectively

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improve the,

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contracts that we have with payers,

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contracts we have with suppliers,

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provide better health care coverage for our employees

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and benefits for our employees.

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And so in order to stay competitive

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and to kinda

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deal with the rapid changes in health care

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economics, we feel that that's very important.

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That's a different model than being owned by

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a health care system or being owned by

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a a university

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system, which

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has benefits, but also has a lot of

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red tape and a lot of complexities.

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So so that's our biggest

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growth driver in the next three to five

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years is how do we make that work

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and expand that hopefully nationwide.

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Absolutely. Well, doctor Hanum, I wanna thank you

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once again for your time today and for

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joining me on the Becker's Healthcare podcast. Well,

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thank you for having me very much.