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forward slash beckerspodcast.
This is Gracelyn Keller with the Becker's Healthcare
Podcast, and we are recording live at the
thirty first annual business and operations of ASCs.
I'm currently joined by doctor George Cybulski, who
is the AI clinical leader and chief of
neurosurgery at Humboldt Park Health. So thanks for
being here. I'd love to kick off our
conversation by having you share a little bit
more about yourself, your work in the ASC
space, and any opening remarks that you may
have. Well, thank you, Grace. It's a pleasure
to be here
and, pleasure to be involved with the conference.
I'm speaking tomorrow on a panel. So,
these are always great,
opportunities
to share
and acquire,
information about what people are doing. So it's
great to be here. I am a neurosurgeon.
I still,
practice neurosurgery,
mainly spine procedures.
But,
I have this interest that I've developed over
the last, ten years or so, which is,
the
support
of spine operations,
literally,
with the,
instruments
that we use.
And, I've been involved,
previously,
with the last few years with the business,
which,
has,
developed.
I'm no longer with it, so no, no
conflict of interest there. But,
outpatient,
spine
instrumentation
for ASCs.
And so
I think really
the the big area
for,
development
is,
outpatient
spine surgery. It's already done, obviously, in ASCs,
but
and, really to
coordinate,
with
processing
of the instruments
at an off-site facility. Because most ASCs,
they didn't they haven't been doing spine procedures
ten year they weren't ten years ago.
And now, there's an opportunity to do that,
and,
I think it's a great opportunity.
Wonderful. Well, I'm eager to hear your thoughts
on these questions we have here.
So let's start off talking about the ASC
market because in The US, it's projected to
reach 60,800,000,000.0
by 2030, and it continues to experience strong
year over year growth. So from your perspective,
what are the most significant trends in Marketforces
driving this expansion, and how should ASC leaders
be preparing today?
Well,
as I said, I'm a spine specialist. So,
really,
a few years ago, Medicare,
really
encouraged
the movement of total joint procedures
to the outpatient setting.
And so that would be, like, total hip
and total knee replacement.
Obviously, that's not something I do, but that
is a growing
due to demographics of aging. That's a growing
area
of, of work.
And then the spine procedures, which,
microdiscectomies,
laminectomies,
spine fuse lumbar spine fusions,
anterior cervical discectomies,
really all things that could be done in
an outpatient,
setting.
And so I think that's a tremendous
area for
increased growth.
And,
ASCs will be able
to step up and include those, in their
list of procedures that they can do.
And from AI and robotic surgeries to advanced
EHR systems, technology remains both a make or
break factor and a critical driver of ASC
operations at scale.
So how do you see deeper tech integration
shaping the way ASCs deliver care and manage
their business over the next few years?
Well,
so so I am a a clinical AI
leader at my hospital.
So I'm very interested in artificial intelligence.
And I think artificial intelligence,
as with
any other process,
will be
very,
beneficial
in connecting the silos
that is the checklist, if you will,
that we need to,
satisfy in order to
get patients approved,
evaluated,
approved for surgery,
getting their,
their preliminary testing blood work
checked and, and getting clearances,
from their family doctors because anything that I'm
involved with is a specialty.
So we need the primary care doctors to
be involved. So I think AI especially is,
a tool
that will help to connect all of these
what has been in the past, these siloed
disparate
groups and help with the communication
for sure.
Absolutely. And I guess a follow-up to that,
I'm curious as a clinical AI leader, is
there a specific technology or innovation that stands
out to you as especially transformative?
That's a great question. So,
as we know from,
just reading, let's just say, The Wall Street
Journal Mhmm. Or on our, phones,
news,
you know, stories,
It's just exploding
the,
number
of companies
that are getting into health care,
utilizing artificial intelligence.
And so before I came in here today,
I took a quick tour through the
exhibits here at the Becker,
meeting, and there are tremendous
number
of companies
that get that and are offering
these services.
From my point of view,
the key will be
how valuable they are,
to a provider.
And
because a lot of these I mean, obviously,
the development
of AI platforms
is
high powered,
development,
technological
development.
So really coordinating it with,
providers, with surgeons
and specialists
is really gonna be the key.
So at the moment, I can't name one,
but I know that
people get that, and it's coming along.
Absolutely.
And shifting gears a little bit, with 60%
of health systems considering ASC joint ventures and
many ASCs already partnering with systems in their
communities.
What opportunities do you see for collaboration, whether
with other providers or vendors to strengthen patient
care and operational efficiency?
Well, it has to happen.
That's that's what we need to have. And
I had mentioned I had written a book,
which is a a number one bestseller on
Amazon.
Can we manage to save health care?
I talk about in that book in in
regard to your question,
Health care is tremendously
fragmented.
Mhmm. There are just different
types of,
entities that are involved with it, health insurance,
federal programs,
Medicare, Medicaid.
So
there's a tremendous opportunity
to
that must be seized
in order to get this collaboration
to occur.
And the people who are are able to
create
platforms to do that will contribute the most
value, and they will be the successful
entities.
Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for joining
me today. Is there anything that we didn't
touch on or final thoughts you'd like to
share?
Would love to just have people check out
my book. It's a number one best seller
on Amazon,
and,
people have enjoyed it. I've gotten a lot
of five star reviews on it. So, if
you would spread the word, I'd really appreciate
that. My idea with that book is to
identify
the pain points
that we need to address
in order to
make the flow of patient care better.
Wonderful. Well, again, thank you so much for
your time, and we are recording live at
the thirty first annual business and operations of
ASCs.
Thank you, Grace.