Hi, everyone. This is Lucas Voss with Becker's
Healthcare. Thanks so much for tuning in to
the Becker's Healthcare podcast series. Today, we're going
to talk about how technology is transforming OR
workflows for better outcomes. And joining me for
today's discussion are Cali Willoughby and Jeff Gerstner.
Jeff is the founder and CEO of Dynamic
OR, bringing more than twenty five years of
experience in the medical industry to his role.
Throughout his career, he has held key positions
in orthopedic and spine distribution, marketing, and product
development. Drawing on his deep expertise, Jeff partnered
with his team to drive greater efficiency, enhancing
safety, and streamlining workflows in the operating room.
Kelly is the vice president of ambulatory surgery
center and community health center sales at McKesson
Medical Surgical. She brings over two decades of
health care experience to McKesson Medical Surgical, and
her team partners closely with McKesson Surgery Center
customers to help with everything from center setup
to custom formulas, clinical guidance, and more. Kelly
and Jeff, thanks for being here today. It's
great to have you. Thanks so much, Lucas.
Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for having me. Yeah. Yeah.
So I wanna set a base line really
for for everybody before we get started here
for our audience, before we dive into some
of the details.
Across the country, our teams face a lot
of challenges from busy schedules, the late procedures,
staffing turnover, all of those types of things
they compound.
And I'd love to know from your perspective,
what are some of those most pressing pain
points today that you're seeing,
and how do these impact efficiency
and then also, ultimately, patient care. Right?
Jeff, why don't we start with you?
Yeah. Sure. I mean, I think the challenges
have been around for decades. Right?
The the the reality is I think post
COVID is especially
some of these demands such as staffing shortages,
the demands on the economics of these of
these ORs to be able to put more
procedures through the the, you know, the demographics
of the of the really, of the country
are showing that there's more and more surgery
needed to be done every day. So I
think there's sort of a a continuation of
a problem that's been out there for a
long time, and efficiency has always been on
the forefront. But seemingly,
now it's become literally maybe the most important
topic of most hospitals and ASCs
at this point. Yeah. Efficiency is the key
enabler for success. It seems like it's really
translated more and more into that enabler, which
is really, really key. Kelly, I'm assuming
similar similar points, different perspective. Would would love
to hear your thoughts as well on this.
No. Absolutely.
We spend a lot of time out in
the field working with our customers and kinda
learning a lot about what some of these
pain points are. To Jeff's point, efficiency,
staffing, some of the the top of the
list, when it comes to challenges.
Staffing shortages,
training,
that that's another issue as well because when
you're, you know, turning over staff quickly, it's
kinda hard to have an efficient OR at
the same time. So I would say those
are some of the top of the list,
including
safety, patient safety, staff safety too, would be
some of the top of the list. And
I know Jeff can can add a little
more insight to that as well.
Yeah. I mean, I think it ties to
the, again, the environments that that we're working
in now. The the ORs have gotten more
constrained in terms of space. I think that
so that so that I sort of elevate
some of the concerns on safety.
Rather, it's safety in the terms of the
ergonomics of the room, the workflow inside of
the room,
and really the the demands. But, again, going
back to the staff, the amount of demands
placed on them because of the high turnover,
but really because of the need to get
through these procedures
efficiently.
It puts a lot of strain and stress
on on the staff for sure.
And what I always find very interesting too
is that these issues are very intertwined.
They connect so much to each other. You
have to look at them holistically. You have
to address them holistically, which is really, really
key.
Kelly, I'd love to talk a little bit
about
the role of external
partners in addressing some of these issues. You've
mentioned you work with a lot of organizations.
You have these conversations all the time, which
is so, so important.
What are some of those technologies, some of
those solutions that are particularly valuable right now
where we are
in tackling some of those common OR challenges
that you're seeing?
I love that you just mentioned that, first
of all.
That is one of our main initiatives
as a team surgery center team at McKesson
is trying to help not only learn what
these problems are, but help solve for these
problems.
As I know you all know, we work
with, you know, numerous manufacturers across the industry,
but it's really important that we help to
try to find ways that we can show
efficiency for our customers.
Our purpose in all of this, Lucas, is
we've built a, you know, a non acute
infrastructure.
So when I say that, I mean, we've
built an infrastructure to service
the
surgery center space.
We're we're not in acute market, and so
our focus is geared towards that customer. And
we span nationwide,
next day delivery. We have tailored logistic models.
We have technology and integration and clinical consulting,
and all of this is to help improve
financial performance
and just strengthen the continuum of care across
all of health care.
And just in your intro too, it is
really that holistic view of we're we were
trying to look at
multiple different issues. It's like is that correct?
That is yes. Very, very much so. Yeah.
It's it's, again, intertwined. You need a holistic
look to be able to solve it. And
and innovation, we talk about it a lot
quite quite a bit, and we talk about
technology solving some of these some of these,
issues. But really what happens is it happens
at the front lines of care. Right? It
happens with the folks that are actually doing
the work. I was wondering if you
both could talk a little bit about the
challenge you were aiming to solve that sparked
your focus on OR efficiency, what you've learned
about bringing new technology
to surgery centers, etcetera,
especially for you, Jeff, right, with Dynamic OR.
What was that story behind it? Why did
you decide to go that route?
Can you talk a little bit about that
process and some of the things that that
you were considering?
Sure. I mean, you know, I I'd say
I grew up in in the ORs. Right?
I came in out of the, orthopedic
and spine industry. So for the last twenty
five years, I've been,
I'd say, relatively fixated on inefficiencies,
and and trying to figure out, you know,
there's gotta be a better solution for it
because it really, you know, coming out of
the orthopedic or spine side, I think we
were, in some ways, you know, one of
the causes of of the of the challenges.
Right? There's a lot of equipment and a
lot of different choices
that are being made. So the confusion or
the complication of surgery has gotten, I think,
elevated over the years. And and for me,
I was always thought that there had to
be a better way of driving
kinda coming backwards and creating a process that
could eliminate some of those unnecessary
challenges or unnecessary delays. I came out of
believe it or not, I came out of
the construction industry. My father and his and
his family were all contractors, and I've mentioned
this many times because I think there's a
parallel.
You know, I grew up in a world
where everything on a job site had a
home, and there was a very specific way
of doing things. So no matter where we
were, you'd open up the trailers and everything
would be the same. Right? And there's a
reason for that.
So looking at the OR and looking at
some of the complications, I I really realized
early on that there should be a better
process that could be created so you could
have repeatability,
which ultimately drives efficiency,
which ultimately,
you know, overcomes a lot of those challenges
that staff are are are complicated
are are feeling right now. So, anyway, it
it it all came from just observation
and and maybe some intuitive
sort of thought process.
That's that's how we got to where we
are. The reason we chose McKesson as a
partner, and and we're very grateful for that
opportunity, is is one on a on a
holistic level. They do represent and Kelly's mentioned
this. They they cover the country in such
a unique way with not only their their,
again, their brand recognition, but their capabilities.
And really what so from a from a
high level, it made a ton of sense.
But when we got to understand how Kelly's
team really focused on and and the what
they're doing to drive our message and their
their their complete message into the ASCs. It
really made a ton of sense. They have
incredibly talented team. They have great access. So
the partnership seemed to just make a ton
of sense from from that level. So we're
really happy that we made that choice. I
mean, what we're offering in terms of the
solution,
you know, we have a three components, and
it is a system. And I, again, I
want people to think about the system that
we offer. You know, we offer a very
unique product
that allows us to get ergonomically,
advantageous both from space and from, you know,
the the the configurations that we can do
with our table.
We have a unique drape system that is
unlike any that's ever been, introduced to the
industry that has a mapping surf surface mapping
technology on that that allows
instruments to be set up, in the configuration,
the same way every time for the different
surgeries. And then the app that we have
pulls it all together. So the solution that
we have is is pretty in-depth,
and that's why I think we're having a
unique opportunity with McKesson.
I love the construction site analogy. Right? Everything
has to have a place and that's so
so close as well. Kelly, I just wanna
give you a chance here too on on
talking a little bit about why this is
so important for for your teams as well
in terms of the the really thinking about
why you're doing this, the OR efficiency piece
too. What have you learned too on on
bringing some of these technologies to folks and
the conversations that you're having?
One thing I would say, the first time
I talked to Jeff
and saw what he had created,
I knew right away that he he he
had a he had a product that was
successful because, one, he he did he solved
for some of the those biggest challenges.
I think what was exciting about that is,
you know, we have a distribution model that's
geared towards servicing that surgery center customer. So
we have the capability
to latest order cutoff times,
break down lowest unit of measures
because we have the largest fleet in the
industry, capabilities to customize,
you know, delivery times and days for our
customers, etcetera.
Mhmm. What I loved about seeing what Jeff
had put together with Dynamic OR, we solve
for a lot of the solutions at McKesson
Medical Surgical on getting product to our customer
and partnering with manufacturer partners like Jeff. And
what he has created gives us the ability
to to just tie the whole solution together
and really show efficiency across the board
from the time they place the order to
the time they complete
a a case in the OR.
Yeah. We're coming back to the holistic piece.
Right? We need to solve for the the
issues, as a whole, as a system, which
is fantastic.
Kelly and Jeff, thank you so much both
to you for being here. This has been
a fantastic conversation. I wanna turn the floor
over to you, for anything else that you
wanna add, any closing thoughts for our audience,
from our conversation today. Jeff, we'd love to
start off with you.
Yeah. I mean, I think I would I
would challenge the audience to think
outside the box a little bit. You know,
we
the innovation that we've created is just one
of many, I think, important steps to get
to,
a place where efficiency should be on the
forefront, but it shouldn't be difficult to accomplish.
Right? And and we've created a solution that
I believe is gonna give, OR staff and
surgeons and then really their patients an opportunity
to benefit from,
a simply a simple solution to a relatively
complex problem. So, I would challenge people to
to think outside the box because we've been
doing things the same way
literally for a hundred years.
And that doesn't mean that it's wrong. It
just means there may be a better way
of, of getting to a, you know, a
better solution, if that makes sense. So I
would tell people to to do that, and
and, hopefully, we can we can show folks,
in the future that that we can help
them. Yeah. Sometimes the construction site doesn't work
if you don't think outside the box. Right?
It won't get there. 100%.
Yeah. Absolutely. Kelly, same for you. Anything else
that you you want really wanna leave our
audience with? Anything that that you wanna add
from especially from McKesson's perspective, from from from
choosing, etcetera? What what what are some of
your thoughts there? No. Lucas, thank you so
much. Thank you for giving us the opportunity
to to speak with you today. And I
just would like to end by
telling everyone, please stop by our booth at
the upcoming business and operations ASC conference
on October 16 through the eighteenth.
You'll actually have the opportunity to speak with
Jeff Live and and see an example of
his, complete solution,
As well as speak with, my
personalized consultative
ASC team. This team has over a hundred
and eighty plus years of experience filling into
the OR. So please stop by, speak with
them. We would love to talk about ways
that we can help you overcome your top
challenges.
Kelly and Jeff, thank you so much for
being here and for your time and for
your insights. And we also want to thank
our podcast sponsor, McKesson Medical Surgical. You can
tune in to more podcasts from Becker's health
care by visiting our podcast page at becker'shospitalreview.com.