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Hello. This is Francesca Matthews with the Becker's

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ASC review podcast.

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I'm thrilled to be joined today by Todd

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Currier,

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CASC,

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CPA,

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CEO and administrator of Bend Surgery Center. Todd,

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thank you so much for being here today.

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Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here

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today.

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Yeah. Just to start off, could you please

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introduce yourself and tell us a little bit

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about your background?

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Sure.

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Again, my name is Todd Currier. I run

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Bend Surgery Center in Bend, Oregon. We're a

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large

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multi specialty center. We

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have eight operating rooms and six procedure rooms.

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We're,

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truly multi specialty, do about 12 different specialties,

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and

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have

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increasing volume,

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as we've expanded over the last few years.

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Past history, I've been in the industry for

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about twenty years now. And,

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prior to that, I was a CPA,

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and then my largest client was a surgery

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center and fell in love with the aspect

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of it and,

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jumped ship about twenty years ago and,

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look forward to the future.

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Excellent. Great.

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And what are the top three trends that

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you're following in health care and the ASC

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world today?

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I think the top things that I'm following

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is this the mergers and acquisitions that are

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happening within the ASC market, the hospitals acquiring

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ASCs, the management companies acquiring ASCs,

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just independents

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that are growing and expanding.

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It it's

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a growth market right now for ASCs. We're

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we're in a great trend right now.

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So that's one area. I think

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another area is just the,

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in increase

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of case volume and case mix.

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And so as we've seen with the proposed

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rule for 02/1926,

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a large expansion of types of cases that

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ASCs are now allowed to do, the expansion

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of the,

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ASC covered procedure list. And so we're looking

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into the,

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advanced

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orthopedics,

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cardiac,

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types of procedures,

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and and,

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probably leads me right into the third third

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area of,

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that I'm seeing trends in is just the

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use of robotics and technology,

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looking at the types of cases that can

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be done within an ASC setting, you know,

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safely done and still, you know, patients be

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able to go home, quality outcomes,

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and looking into how that's gonna expand over

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to the next few years.

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Mhmm. Absolutely. I feel like all three things

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you mentioned are kind of in your connect

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there,

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which kind of leads me to my next

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question, which is how are you thinking about

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growth over the next twelve months,

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specifically with regards to everything that you just

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mentioned, you know, that,

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increasing case volume and mix, the m and

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a stuff, and also technology?

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I think for us, really looking at, you

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know, what is that strategic growth? What areas

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do we want to expand in? And

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so we're still looking, especially with the proposed

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rule so fresh and, you know, it's not

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finalized yet. So we're gonna take a look

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at that. But what areas do we want

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to expand in?

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Number one, do we look at our current,

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case mix and volume, and how do we

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increase that?

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Do we look at new technology? Do we

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look into robotics

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and and start doing robotic cases at at

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our center? And what is the the cost

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benefit of doing that?

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And probably the third

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thing on on that area really is

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looking at how can we use technology

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to

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improve our growth,

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going into the future. You know, what areas

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of technology, whether it's AI, whether it's software

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based,

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other software based systems that will increase our

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efficiencies.

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That those are areas that we're really looking

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at that will,

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assist in our growth.

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Absolutely.

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And what are you most excited about right

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now?

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I just have to be honest as I'm

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excited about the the ASE industry. I I'm

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very excited about the direction and

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proposed rules that we were seeing, that,

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we've seen some some great leaps and bounds

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that, were were being heard by CMS that

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is, you know, historically and as we go

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into the future, we we are,

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a great resource for our communities for the

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care that we provide and the safe quality

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care that we provide every single day and

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that we can continue on into the future.

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There's few things within

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the proposed role that we we still need

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to advocate for that, you know, where we're

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we're we're falling short in regards to,

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you know, the the secondary weight scaler that

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takes effect that

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we're really still seeing a disparity

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in our reimbursement

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stream as far as it's it's a growing

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disparity between

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ASC reimbursement and the HOPD.

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And we we need to

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continue to advocate and lobby with

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the with CMS and our,

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legislators that we we need to get this

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corrected.

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Mhmm.

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Yeah. Absolutely. It sounds like there's there's some

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wins in the recent, proposed rules and then

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definitely some areas where folks are still kind

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of advocating for ASCs and,

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particular

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particularly around that reimbursement issue.

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The that's correct. I I think it's it's

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it's imperative for all of us to remain

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active and,

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continue to advocate for our industry. And so

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that, you know,

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we we have those wins and losses, but

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we we need to mitigate where those losses

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are so that,

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we can continue to provide the high quality

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care we do every single day.

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Absolutely.

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Anything else that you'd like to add here?

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No. I think the the main part, I'm

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happy to be part of this podcast. August

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is National ASC Month, so I I appreciate

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you

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having me on and,

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look forward to, you know, positive impacts we

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have going into the future.

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Excellent. Well, that is all I have for

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you today, Todd. Thank you so much for

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joining us today.

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It has been a pleasure speaking with you,

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and I look forward to connecting with you

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again in the future.

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Thank you very much.