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forward slash beckerspodcast.
This is Gracelyn Keller with the Becker's Healthcare
Podcast, and we are recording live at the
twenty second annual Spine Orthopedic and Pain Management
Driven ASC
and the Future of Spine Conference.
I am joined right now by Tammy Smittle,
who is the group CEO at SCA Health.
So, Tammy, thanks so much for being here.
Let's start off by having you introduce yourself
and telling us a little bit more about
your role and your organization.
Okay. Hi. I'm Tammy Smittle. I,
by trade, I'm a nurse. I'm almost thirty
years of being a nurse. Proud of that.
I will always be a nurse. I am
group CEO in Austin, Texas. I have a
surgery center called Stonegate Surgery Center and a
surgical hospital called Northwest Hills Surgical Hospital. So
I run up and down the highway most
days,
maintaining both of these facilities. So I have,
14 ORs in all, and,
we do mostly ortho and spine.
Wonderful. Well, thank you for joining me today.
And let's start off with what trends or
shifts you're currently seeing right now in the
industry that you think are the most important
for industry leaders to pay attention to.
Yeah. I think it's the thing same thing
that we've been seeing the last few years
is just it's been interesting seeing
the higher acuity cases hitting the ASCs and
even the surgical hospital. So we're seeing a
higher ASA levels also. So we're kinda seeing
some sicker patients,
go through the doors and being
treated well and,
safely in our surgery center. So that's been
a fun trend to watch. I think that
leaders
are having to learn to walk a tight
rope in between what's pushing the envelope on
higher ASA and higher acuity, and what's can
safely be performed in the ASC. And I
think a lot of times until you do
it that first time, you don't know. And
so you have to team up with a
great anesthesia group and great surgeons, obviously,
that can help you, teeter that tight rope.
But I think that's
what I'm watching, and it's been really cool
to see. And being a nurse for so
long is how much was been moved to
the ASC
and how patients are performing
great, and they're having good outcomes without any
infections.
Absolutely.
And staffing and workforce challenges continue to be
a concern across health care. So how is
your organization navigating these pressures, and what strategies
have you seen work well?
So, obviously,
staffing is always gonna be an issue, and
I'm all about building culture.
And my two facilities, the culture is totally
different at both of them. It's works perfectly
for the facility that it's in.
My South Austin facility is a little bit
cookier than my North Austin facility, and that's
how life should be. So I I think
that you have to build a culture and
a team and a family
that works for that environment.
Of course, like everyone's leaving or wanting to
leave, and it's interesting for higher pay, but
then all those people end up coming back
to you because I don't wanna be the
highest
paying employee
employer out there because then you're just getting
these staff that's there for the money and
not there for the for the right reasons
of of, you know, creating this family and
taking care of patients as a team.
I want to create a culture where we're
a team and that we all work together
and
it's never someone's not my job to do
something. Like, we all work together. I mop
floors. Everyone mops floors. And so I think
that it's if you focus on building culture,
then the rest of it kinda falls into
place. And I've not had staffing challenges at
my two facilities because I think that as
focusing on culture and not necessarily focusing on
the highest pay
has really
made it, a positive environment for people to
wanna come and work.
And as outpatient care continues to grow, how
do you see the role of orthopedics,
spine, ASCs, all those things evolving within the
border or the broader healthcare ecosystem?
That's been fun to watch. So I have
I I told you I do mostly ortho,
and spine in my facilities. And my ASC
has done some neat things recently.
I had the very first orthopedic surgeon to
perform a peripheral nerve stem on a patient
post total knee,
for having chronic pain after a total knee.
So it's been interesting watching
traditional orthopedist
evolve into these non traditional procedures,
and seeing the patient outcomes have been great.
And yet it just takes you know, you
have to have that catalyst. It takes the
one guy to start doing these procedures. And
then now I have a a whole group
of orthopedists that are doing these procedures.
And one of them are is traveling around
the world doing papers and talking about,
how peripheral nerve stims work great in orthopedic
population for orthopedists to perform these. So it's
been it's been fun to watch. And then
I think that I I think that as
the technology in improves,
like, we're just gonna have to continue to
be open to have new technology in your
door.
Absolutely. And as we wrap up our conversation,
many organizations are exploring new technologies, partnerships, or
care models to improve efficiency and outcomes. So
are there any innovations or initiatives you found
particularly promising?
Yeah. I mean, that's always a a good
question,
with care models and and trying to find
the right mix of taking good care of
patients and then still making money and a
facility and my facilities are physician owned.
My two facilities have teamed up with a
large hospital system.
That has helped us tremendously. And I think
it's a win win for both
the surgery centers and the surgical hospitals as
well as the,
the hospital system because none that gives them
like, they have outlets because everything's moving to
the ASCs, and these hospitals see it. So
when they team up with us, they actually
can be like, hey. We're part of this.
So it's been a good win. I think
there's gonna be struggles and we're all struggling
through it, like, who gets what patient and
there's still those fights.
And it's interesting how the doctors get pulled
in between them. But I think that that
will continue. I think we'll continue to see
a bigger growth of
ASCs pairing up
with these big hospital systems.
Wonderful. Well, is there anything else you'd like
to share that we didn't touch on? No,
I think that's it. Thank you guys for
having me. Awesome, Tammy. Thank you so much.
Again, we are recording live at the Becker's
twenty second Annual Spine Orthopedic and Pain Management
Conference.