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forward slash beckerspodcast.

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Hello, and welcome to the Becker's Healthcare podcast

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recorded live at the twenty second annual spine,

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orthopedic, and pain management driven ASC and future

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of spine conference.

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I'm joined today by Omkar Baxhi, orthopedic hand

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surgeon at Mid Atlantic Permanente Medical Group. To

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start us off, would you please share a

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little bit about yourself, your role, and your

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organization? Sure. Yeah. So I'm a orthopedic hand

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surgeon by training.

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So that means that the vast majority of

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my surgical practice is hand to, elbow and

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a little bit of shoulder work.

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But, I'm part of a, 13 physician and,

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four to five PA,

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group, in Virginia. And so we take care

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of general orthopedics in the clinic.

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And then I support a total of about

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2,000 doctors,

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through throughout the Middle Atlantic states for Kaiser

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Permanente, and we have the privilege of taking

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care of about 800,000,

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patients in the, DMV.

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What trends or shifts are you seeing right

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now in the industry that you think are

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the most important for industry leaders to pay

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attention to? So I think the the perennial

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issue has always been decreased

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decreasing reimbursement.

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So that is the headwind that we always

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face. And then the background of that is

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that we always have to,

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put our patients first and make sure that

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the quality of our patient care is paramount.

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And so as we have lower reimbursements and

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as the cost of supplies and the cost

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of staffing and everything else goes up,

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I think we have to look at at

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new,

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technologies and and new innovations to to make

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that balance, work out.

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As outpatient care continues to grow, how do

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you see the role of orthopedic spine and

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ASCs evolving within the broader health care ecosystem?

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Yeah. So absolutely. It's gonna be an even

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more prevalent issue, as the population changes and

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and as we have fewer,

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health care workforce.

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So I think a big part of that

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is is finding the right patients to do

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the right surgery for the right, intervention in

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the right venue.

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So we we definitely focus a lot on

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transitioning from more, traditional kinda hospital based care

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to in office care. So we we use,

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and even moving from ASC

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to in office surgeries.

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So I know this is an ASC conference,

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but, I think a part a big part

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of that is is seeing how much of

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that we can actually move into the office,

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procedure suites and then free up the ASCs

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for even the the things that are moving

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out of the hospital, like total knees and

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total joints.

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Well, many organizations are exploring new technologies, partnerships,

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or care models to improve efficiency and outcomes.

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Are there any innovations or initiatives you found

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particularly promising?

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The most recent thing that comes to mind

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is we are now using Ambient AI scribes,

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in my organization.

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And I think that's been

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super helpful.

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I know that my non orthopedic colleagues actually

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feel like it's a it's a complete game

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changer that they really can focus on on

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their patients.

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In my world, you know, we have a

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little bit more

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templated notes or more, kinda

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single issues. But even then, there's always a

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little bit of a difference between one patient

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or the next. And so having,

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having the ability to not worry about typing

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out that exact thing that I know that

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my phone will will pick that up, that

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I know that, you know, when I come

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back to them in two months, it'll be

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written down for me. It really helps me

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build that connection, again in in the office.

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So I think that's been huge.

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And then but as we move forward, I

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think AI prescreen could also help so that,

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you know, we talked about kinda the right

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patient, the right time, the right treatment. Part

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of that is is actually before they even

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come to see me. So I think, you

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know, having

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the

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the patients to know which ones do need

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to see a surgeon and which ones maybe,

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if it it it may get better with

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time. Orthopedics,

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a lot of it does, time heals.

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And so, helping us to kinda narrow that

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down will help us,

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figure out how to best care, best deliver

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care. So Mhmm. Mhmm.

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Well, financial transparency is becoming a more prominent

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part of the patient experience with growing expectations

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from consumers and health care stakeholders alike. From

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your perspective, what does true financial transparency look

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like in practice?

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For leaders thinking about the business side of

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care, especially in an increasingly consumer driven health

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care environment,

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how can financial transparency become not just a

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patient win, but a competitive advantage?

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Yeah. Absolutely. So I know we we focus

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so much on on providers and health care

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systems, but let's be honest. The the cost

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of health care eventually comes down to the

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patients. So that has to be a part

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of our conversation. And it's not just when

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they come to see us, but it's also

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when they're selecting their their health plans and

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their, in their

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open enrollment period. So,

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I'm privileged to be at at a, on

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that permanent medicine. So,

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we are able to,

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take that part out of our clinic,

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discussions,

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because the patients have essentially signed on to

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a health plan that

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there there's always a little bit of difference.

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But for for the most part, their premiums

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cover their entire care, so there's not as

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much of a a surprise or an out

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of pocket. But so I think that that

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the

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shift has to be where do we talk

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about financial costs. Is it just when you're

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when you're in the office or when you're

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just paying for your surgery? Is it when

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you're signing up for your health plan? Is

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it when you think about when I have

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an injury and I'm losing days off of

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work? I think that needs to be part

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of that financial cost consideration as well. So,

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you know, in my world, risk fractures are

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becoming more controversial as to which ones do

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we need to fix, which ones do we

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not.

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And that's a great technical decision that that

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needs

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to take place.

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And it's easy to say that surgeries for

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wrist fractures are more costly. And so in

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a value based care,

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if you if you had a very myopic

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view, you would say surgery is probably not

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the right cost consideration.

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But then I think that that takes,

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patients out of the picture. I think if

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you have a very manual job and you

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can't go to work for three months, it's

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very different than if you have a a

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computer job, and you could easily be working

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and and still earning a paycheck, for those

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three months where you're casted. So I think

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we we definitely have to to expand our

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view

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of of really what cost means, and I

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think that'll that'll help a lot. So I

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really like that. Omkar, thank you so much

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for joining us today on the show. But

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before I let you go, is there anything

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else you'd like to touch on or any

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final thoughts you'd like to leave with us?

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I think it was just, it was it's

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great to be here and to learn from

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everyone,

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at the conference. It was really amazing to

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see how we have CEOs of health plans.

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We have, of course, we have doctors and

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and ASC leaders.

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And, I was at a a panel recently

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where where we talked about how the only

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way to move forward and to innovate is

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to have all these people at the table,

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and and we need to do that more

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often, I think. So thank you for for,

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organizing this. It's our pleasure. Thank you again

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for joining us today. Thanks. Have a lovely

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rest of your day.