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forward slash beckers podcast.
This is Gracelyn Keller with the Becker's Healthcare
Podcast, and we are live at the twenty
second annual Spine Orthopedic and Pain Management Conference.
I'm currently joined by Ishua Mohammadi, who is
the practice manager at Northwest Suburban Pain Associates.
So, Ishua, thanks for being here. I would
love to start us off by having you
share a little bit more about yourself, your
role, and your organization.
Hi, Grace. It's definitely very nice to be
here. I've, come to this conference, every year
in the last, three years, I think. And
it's always great to be here. And, thank
you for giving me the opportunity.
So as you already introduced me, I'm the
practice manager for Northwestern Bourbon Pain Associates.
My role at my,
practice is basically
overseeing,
financial management,
practice management clinically as well as administratively.
Wonderful. Well, thank you for being here to
share your insights. And let's start our conversation
off with what trends or shifts you're currently
seeing in the industry right now that you
think are most important for industry leaders to
pay attention to.
Right now, something that just immediately pops up
in my mind, with regards to what we
are seeing in shifting trends would be the,
the amount of, influence insurances have
on, the treatment that physicians have to offer.
I think, there is a lot of need
for,
shifting towards,
requirements and compliance,
as well as,
prior authorization processes, documentation
requirements by insurances that is causing,
a big shift in how the dynamic of
a practice would
work on or look like on a daily
basis, day to day basis.
The other main,
focus that we have been looking into as
pain management, physicians is, regenerative medicine. So that
has been on the rise, rise, and it
has,
it's not covered by insurance. So
we have been able to market it very
successfully to our pool of patients and elsewhere
as well.
But the downside to that would be the
self pay attached to it because that would
not be covered by their insurance plans.
So those are the two major shifts that
I would like to focus on. Absolutely.
And staffing and workforce challenges also continue to
be a concern across health care. So how
is your organization navigating these pressures, and what
strategies have you seen work well?
Well, with staffing,
the only solution that comes to mind and
it has worked is retention,
staff retention.
Because right now, if you go to replace
a good candidate at work,
I feel the market,
is severely lacking good personnel.
And, also, one of the reason being that
practices like myself, businesses like ours,
we have focused our best in retaining
the best employees,
and the workforce.
That I think that that would be the
that is one of the major challenges everybody
feels across the board. And,
we have felt it too, and we try
our best to navigate it as the best
we could.
The other workforce challenges would be in terms
of,
like I stressed on before, insurance requirements and
documentation requirements to meet, medical necessity for certain
procedures.
I feel that, that gives rise to,
the necessity to get a compliance team on
board,
as well as,
to get a prior authorization
department set up,
that would handle
approvals, that would handle,
you know, the the cost,
questions with patients as well as,
the documentation requirements and continuous and ongoing workforce
training for that purpose.
Absolutely.
And then as outpatient care continues to grow,
how do you see the role of orthopedics,
spine, and ASCs evolving with the broader healthcare
ecosystem?
I feel no matter where any health organization
reaches out to, the bottom line is always
how
satisfied your customer is, and your customer is
a patient.
And I feel that from my perspective, when
I talk to patients for feedback or I
cross reference a lot of, the feedback that
I get with my workforce and physicians,
I think the most important thing that patients
are looking for, I'm coming from pain management,
so I'm gonna speak on, behalf of that,
obviously, is that they wanna be seen as
soon as possible. You cannot have a patient
in pain wait for three months to be
seen. You cannot have a patient in pain
even wait more than a week to be
seen. So that also adds to the previous
question of the workforce challenges we are facing
is that we need to be,
adequately equipped in order to make sure we
are there for the patients.
Absolutely. And that's a great segue into my
final question.
Many organizations are exploring new technologies, partnerships, and
care models to improve efficiency and outcomes. So
are there any innovations or initiatives you found
particularly promising here?
I think, we developed our billing department and
the financial system a little bit little more
better over the course of the last particularly
the last two years because we've grown, extensively
in self pay procedures as well as,
regenerative medicine for, the clinic. And we cover
spine. We cover joints.
We cover practically every part of the body.
With that being said, I feel that the
most important,
I wouldn't call it a new technology,
but, obviously, you need, again, a proper
work ethic and flow in place. You have
to have a good billing department
that offers all the ideas there are. We
do use CareCredit, by the way, and,
we do offer that to patients, when if
they need to do that, if they need
to use it. So
all I will say is that, yes, a
a good work ethic in place, a good
workflow in place, a proper documentation in place.
And, yes, workforce wise, you have to have
that kind of backup. You cannot do this
without workforce,
or you cannot have AI do this, definitely.
So, yes, in terms of new technologies and
partnerships, I think we are partnering with affiliates
like Regenexx.
We are partnering with, multiple referring sources that
send us patients.
So it's just that you have to grow
with the flow and, just make sure that
you have the proper financial options for patients
so that they can they can receive the
treatment that they deserve.
Absolutely. Well, Shu, is there anything else you'd
like to add as we round out our
conversation today?
No. I just, the only thing that I
would wrap this up with is saying that,
ultimately,
I know that we have a responsibility to
go financially.
But,
I think
the more an organization grows is when the
patients are happy,
and they receive the care that they deserve,
obviously within reasonable means and within reasonable resources.
I think that organizations should continue to equip
themselves in order to meet these requirements.
Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for taking
the time to join me today. Again, we
are recording live at the twenty second annual
Spine Orthopedic and Pain Management Conference.