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At athenahealth,

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we know your ambulatory practice wants healthier, a

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healthier business, healthier care teams, and healthier patients.

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But the complexities of modern health care tech

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make it hard for you and your care

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teams to focus on what matters

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most? That's where athenahealth can help. Our AI

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native all in one solutions reduce administrative burdens,

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streamline billing and payments, and deliver critical insights

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when clinicians need it most. That means fewer

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clicks, more time for patients, and stronger bottom

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lines.

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Practicing medicine is complex, but running a practice

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can be that much simpler with athenahealth.

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See how simpler is healthier@athenahealth.com.

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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 doctor

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Earl Kilbride, an orthopedic surgeon at Austin Orthopedic

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Institute. Earl, thank you so much for being

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here today. You're welcome. Thank you.

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Yeah. Just to start us off, could you

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please introduce yourself and tell us a little

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bit about your background?

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Sure. My name is Earl Kilbride. I'm an

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orthopedic surgeon here in Austin, Texas.

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Did my training in Dallas way back when.

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I did a fellowship out in Los Angeles

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with, Steve Snyder at SCOE in shoulder arthroscopy

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and reconstruction.

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I've been here in Austin now as a

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practice in orthopedics

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for about twenty three years.

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K. Excellent. And

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what are the top three trends that you're

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following in health care and ASCs today?

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Yeah. So I think, the biggest thing that

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I'm following is consolidation.

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I'm in a six man,

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small,

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independently owned private practice group. And so the

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bigger one of the biggest threats to our

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survival

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is consolidation, whether that be with private equity

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or under the employed model.

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So that's certainly a trend we're following. Obviously,

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reimbursement is another trend that we're following.

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Whenever Medicare goes down, a lot of the

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commercial contracts are tied to some sort of

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Medicare factor.

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And so, certainly, that threatens the livelihood

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long term of any physician, much less a

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small private practice group.

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And then lastly,

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it's exciting, but,

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is

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AI. How do we use AI in medicine?

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Is there a way that can make us

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more efficient and work smarter, not harder?

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We have to make sure that we vet

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a lot of the information that's coming through

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in the AI,

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platforms,

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and how do you incorporate that to, say,

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your EMR? How do you incorporate that into,

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say, patient education and things of that sort?

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Mhmm. Absolutely. And that that definitely just echoes,

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the conversations that I've been having over here

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at Becker's just a lot this year, especially

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consolidation reimbursement AI.

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Major major themes there.

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You mentioned you were excited about AI, but

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what else are you most excited about right

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now?

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One of the biggest things that

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excites us, especially as a small independent group,

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is moving everything to the ASC. Right?

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Some of the payers have got on board

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with it and the professional fees for a

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single physician are higher in the ASC than

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they would be in the hospital because they

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see the long term savings.

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Just a couple of years ago, many procedures

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such as total shoulder replacements

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got taken off this inpatient only list. And

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there's even some,

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chatter,

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about

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amongst the politicians in Washington DC to get

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rid of,

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the inpatient only list, which would then push

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more patients to the AFC

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ASC.

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I think,

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the literature shows that it can be done

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safely, and the literature shows that it's definitely

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more efficient.

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There's less,

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hours in terms of patient rounding, having to

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discharge patients, pay paperwork, all those things

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associated with an ASC.

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And the bottom line is patients are doing

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at least as good.

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And quite honestly, when they're paying 20% of

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an overall bill, it's probably cheaper for them

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in their pockets.

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Mhmm. Absolutely. Definitely another trend that we've been

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following closely at Becker's.

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How are you thinking about growth over the

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next twelve months?

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As a physician, I always think if you're

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available,

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you provide good care, you provide good honest

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treatments,

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you communicate with the patients that you're gonna

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grow. And so I personally believe in organic

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growth, getting out there, shaking hands of private

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practice guys, giving talks at local community events,

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really encouraging patients to do patient reviews, etcetera.

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But a lot of times, especially with big

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business coming in, whether it's private equity or

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hospital employed models, it gets harder and harder

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to do that. And so I think some

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of the growth that we'll we'll see will

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be directed growth. For instance,

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maybe advertising that we do minimally invasive surgery

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in an ASC, for instance, like we just

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spoke about. The other thing is figuring out

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some different procedures that, is just not common.

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One of the things I personally do, and

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I was the first orthopedist in Texas to

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do it, is I do peripheral nerve stimulation.

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I've really incorporate incorporated this into my practice.

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I give many talks throughout the year to

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different orthopedic groups that are trying to incorporate

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this. And so I think we just have

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to be really open,

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to different avenues of growth.

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Mhmm. Absolutely. That that kind of marketing component

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I know is something that's challenging for physicians,

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but also I think having those strong, community

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connections is something that kind of seem to

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put people on the the other end of

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the bell curve. You know? That kind of

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that human element that can't really be replaced.

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So, yeah, again, just kind of lots of

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the themes that we talk about here at

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Becker's. Is there anything else that you wanted

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to touch on today?

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I think, I think we've covered it all,

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and I I appreciate you guys having me.

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Yeah. Of course. And we'll be in touch

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soon.

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That's all I have for you today, Earl.

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But thank you so much for joining us.

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It's been a pleasure speaking with you, and

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I look forward to connecting with you again

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in the future. Perfect. Thank you, guys. Uh-huh.

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Yep. Thank you.

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At athena Health, we know your ambulatory practice

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wants healthier,

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a healthier business, healthier care teams, and healthier

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patients.

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But the complexities of modern healthcare tech make

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it hard for you and your care teams

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to focus on what matters most.

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That's where athenahealth can help.

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Our AI native all in one solutions reduce

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administrative burdens,

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streamline billing and payments, and deliver critical insights

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when clinicians need it most. That means fewer

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clicks, more time for patients, and stronger bottom

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lines.

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Practicing medicine is complex, but running a practice

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can be that much simpler with athenahealth.

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See how simpler is healthier at athenahealth.com.