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forward slash beckers podcast.

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This is Gracelyn Keller with the Becker's Healthcare

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Podcast, and we are live at the twenty

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second annual Spine Orthopedic and Pain Management Conference.

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I'm currently joined by Ishua Mohammadi, who is

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the practice manager at Northwest Suburban Pain Associates.

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So, Ishua, thanks for being here. I would

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love to start us off by having you

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share a little bit more about yourself, your

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role, and your organization.

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Hi, Grace. It's definitely very nice to be

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here. I've, come to this conference, every year

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in the last, three years, I think. And

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it's always great to be here. And, thank

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you for giving me the opportunity.

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So as you already introduced me, I'm the

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practice manager for Northwestern Bourbon Pain Associates.

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My role at my,

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practice is basically

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overseeing,

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financial management,

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practice management clinically as well as administratively.

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Wonderful. Well, thank you for being here to

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share your insights. And let's start our conversation

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off with what trends or shifts you're currently

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seeing in the industry right now that you

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think are most important for industry leaders to

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pay attention to.

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Right now, something that just immediately pops up

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in my mind, with regards to what we

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are seeing in shifting trends would be the,

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the amount of, influence insurances have

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on, the treatment that physicians have to offer.

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I think, there is a lot of need

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for,

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shifting towards,

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requirements and compliance,

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as well as,

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prior authorization processes, documentation

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requirements by insurances that is causing,

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a big shift in how the dynamic of

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a practice would

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work on or look like on a daily

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basis, day to day basis.

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The other main,

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focus that we have been looking into as

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pain management, physicians is, regenerative medicine. So that

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has been on the rise, rise, and it

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has,

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it's not covered by insurance. So

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we have been able to market it very

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successfully to our pool of patients and elsewhere

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as well.

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But the downside to that would be the

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self pay attached to it because that would

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not be covered by their insurance plans.

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So those are the two major shifts that

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I would like to focus on. Absolutely.

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And staffing and workforce challenges also continue to

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be a concern across health care. So how

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is your organization navigating these pressures, and what

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strategies have you seen work well?

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Well, with staffing,

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the only solution that comes to mind and

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it has worked is retention,

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staff retention.

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Because right now, if you go to replace

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a good candidate at work,

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I feel the market,

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is severely lacking good personnel.

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And, also, one of the reason being that

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practices like myself, businesses like ours,

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we have focused our best in retaining

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the best employees,

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and the workforce.

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That I think that that would be the

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that is one of the major challenges everybody

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feels across the board. And,

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we have felt it too, and we try

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our best to navigate it as the best

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we could.

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The other workforce challenges would be in terms

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of,

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like I stressed on before, insurance requirements and

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documentation requirements to meet, medical necessity for certain

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procedures.

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I feel that, that gives rise to,

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the necessity to get a compliance team on

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board,

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as well as,

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to get a prior authorization

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department set up,

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that would handle

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approvals, that would handle,

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you know, the the cost,

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questions with patients as well as,

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the documentation requirements and continuous and ongoing workforce

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training for that purpose.

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Absolutely.

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And then as outpatient care continues to grow,

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how do you see the role of orthopedics,

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spine, and ASCs evolving with the broader healthcare

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ecosystem?

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I feel no matter where any health organization

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reaches out to, the bottom line is always

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how

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satisfied your customer is, and your customer is

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a patient.

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And I feel that from my perspective, when

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I talk to patients for feedback or I

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cross reference a lot of, the feedback that

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I get with my workforce and physicians,

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I think the most important thing that patients

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are looking for, I'm coming from pain management,

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so I'm gonna speak on, behalf of that,

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obviously, is that they wanna be seen as

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soon as possible. You cannot have a patient

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in pain wait for three months to be

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seen. You cannot have a patient in pain

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even wait more than a week to be

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seen. So that also adds to the previous

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question of the workforce challenges we are facing

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is that we need to be,

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adequately equipped in order to make sure we

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are there for the patients.

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Absolutely. And that's a great segue into my

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final question.

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Many organizations are exploring new technologies, partnerships, and

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care models to improve efficiency and outcomes. So

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are there any innovations or initiatives you found

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particularly promising here?

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I think, we developed our billing department and

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the financial system a little bit little more

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better over the course of the last particularly

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the last two years because we've grown, extensively

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in self pay procedures as well as,

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regenerative medicine for, the clinic. And we cover

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spine. We cover joints.

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We cover practically every part of the body.

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With that being said, I feel that the

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most important,

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I wouldn't call it a new technology,

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but, obviously, you need, again, a proper

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work ethic and flow in place. You have

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to have a good billing department

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that offers all the ideas there are. We

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do use CareCredit, by the way, and,

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we do offer that to patients, when if

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they need to do that, if they need

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to use it. So

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all I will say is that, yes, a

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a good work ethic in place, a good

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workflow in place, a proper documentation in place.

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And, yes, workforce wise, you have to have

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that kind of backup. You cannot do this

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without workforce,

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or you cannot have AI do this, definitely.

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So, yes, in terms of new technologies and

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partnerships, I think we are partnering with affiliates

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like Regenexx.

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We are partnering with, multiple referring sources that

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send us patients.

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So it's just that you have to grow

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with the flow and, just make sure that

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you have the proper financial options for patients

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so that they can they can receive the

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treatment that they deserve.

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Absolutely. Well, Shu, is there anything else you'd

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like to add as we round out our

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conversation today?

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No. I just, the only thing that I

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would wrap this up with is saying that,

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ultimately,

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I know that we have a responsibility to

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go financially.

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But,

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I think

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the more an organization grows is when the

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patients are happy,

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and they receive the care that they deserve,

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obviously within reasonable means and within reasonable resources.

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I think that organizations should continue to equip

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themselves in order to meet these requirements.

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Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for taking

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the time to join me today. Again, we

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are recording live at the twenty second annual

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Spine Orthopedic and Pain Management Conference.