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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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Sumana Mule, founding physician of Merus Gastroenterology

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and Gut Health. Doctor Mule, thank you so

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much for being here today.

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Absolutely. And thank you so much for having

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me.

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K. Great.

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To start us off, could you please just

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introduce yourself and tell us a little bit

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about your background?

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Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. I'm a board certified gastroenterologist

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and the founder of Medus Gastroenterology and Gut

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Health based in Johns Creek, Georgia, which is

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just outside of Atlanta.

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My training journey started in the medical school

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in India, then I moved to Detroit, Michigan

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where I trained in internal medicine at Wayne

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State University.

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Later, I did a gastroenterology fellowship at Penn

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State, University. And following that, I had the

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privilege of practicing in a variety of environments.

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The first my first job was at a

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VA hospital,

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system in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.

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Later on, I moved to a large multi

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specialty group of over a 100 physicians in

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Tampa, Florida,

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and later a single specialty,

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GI practice here in Georgia. So it kind

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of gave me a nice spectrum of different

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setups with GI. It's all gastroenterology, but the

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setup is very different.

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Gave me a firsthand experience on on how

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things run-in each of these

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areas.

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What I noticed

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through these experiences,

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was that while each system had its strengths,

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there was often very little flexibility or autonomy

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for physicians to truly practice medicine

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the way it's meant to be practiced.

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I like medicine to be thoughtful, collaborative,

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and without unnecessary barriers, and I couldn't find

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it in these

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other systems.

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That was frustrating, and that frustration really pushed

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me to take a leap of faith and

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start my own independent,

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fully outpatient practice,

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here in Georgia.

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In in this location is frankly one of

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the most competitive GI markets in Metro Atlanta.

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It was risky, but it was it has

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been incredibly rewarding so far.

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So today,

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my independent practice, METAS Gastroenterology,

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has we built this fortunate to build a

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strong reputation just purely through

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authentic patient relationships

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and word-of-mouth.

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And more recently, we've been recognized and featured

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as the Santa top doctor. So we're really

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honored and,

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pleased

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as to how far we've come in the

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last four years since our practice has opened.

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But what's more satisfying is really having the

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freedom to, you know, care for patients in

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a way that feels personal,

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undrushed, and really deeply fulfilling.

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Absolutely. Yeah. That physician autonomy component, I find

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comes up a lot in the ASC space

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is one of the things that

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sort of draws people into

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the outpatient setting or just into independent practice

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overall, but especially

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related to ASCs. It seems like physician autonomy

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and ASCs are kind of intertwined at times.

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I'm wondering what are the top three trends

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that you're following in health care and ASCs

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today?

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Yeah. There is so much,

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going on in the in the trends in

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health care SCs, but the top three things

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I think I am excited about is,

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one is in in SCs, we are seeing

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a migration of more complex GI procedures into

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the outpatient setting

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and advances in technology, sedation safety, and post

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procedure monitoring.

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All of them that made it possible for

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what traditionally was done in hospital departments to

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come into the

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outpatient setting, and it's still safe and efficient

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as well. And payers are recognizing the value,

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and patients appreciate the convenience and comfort,

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which which is much easier to be done

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in ASCs rather than in a hospital setting.

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The second one that I'm seeing is a

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definite renewed interest in physician led ownership models.

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For years, at least the last decade, consolidation

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into private equity, hospital systems

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immediately like independence was impossible. And when I

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even when I started, it felt like I

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don't know where this is going, but I

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just got back from our annual ACG, the

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College of Gastroenterology

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Conference in Phoenix.

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And I saw more and more physicians, especially

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younger ones, who are looking for independent models

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that combine autonomy,

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with efficiency and support.

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And they like practices that integrate ASCs into

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the into their,

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model as well.

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So there I think in general, GI or

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more physicians are realizing that ownership is not

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just about equity, but it's also having a

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voice

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in how medicine is practiced,

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which is often lacking when you practice in

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larger health systems where there's not much autonomy

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and flexibility.

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And the third one that is really exciting

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and is still evolving quite a bit and

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rapidly is the integration of AI or digital

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tools and operational automation in ASCs.

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Things like AI enabled patient engagement,

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streamlined scheduling,

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real time analytics, they've all they're all helping

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small centers compete with the larger systems.

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It's, in and you think of them sometimes

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as are we gonna lose human touch, but

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it's really

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helping us scale empathy seamlessly and remove that

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friction between the patient and staff experience. So

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all of these are really I mean, it's

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an exciting time to be an independent GI

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physician and with all of these resources available.

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They're they make us health care more cost

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efficient,

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and they're leading innovation in quality and patient

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satisfaction

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as well. So so it's really exciting.

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Absolutely.

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Yeah, you you mentioned AI is something you're

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excited about.

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I'm wondering what else are you most excited

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about in this space right now or if,

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you know, if AI is the answer, kind

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of if you can expound on that a

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little bit. Within the AI, you mean? Well,

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just what in general are you excited about?

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Whether it's AI or whether it's something else?

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Yeah. I think, yeah, for the AC is

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really,

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the AI tools are making it more cost

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efficient and, making it seamless.

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Some of the hurdles we used to face

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with the revenue cycle management are decreasing with

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the AI tools and then the migration of

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addition of newer,

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service lines within the GIM gastroenterology.

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So such as

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adding new things such as my view, interest

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in placement. They're adding more revenue to the

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ASCs,

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as well as hemorrhoid,

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ablation. So adding new procedures

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that we traditionally haven't done before,

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is is also exciting. But within the AI

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world, there's there's just so much. I was

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just speaking to someone

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just as I was hopping on this call,

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a new company that's literally a year old

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who,

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enable

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medicines specialty medicines that we prescribe often run

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into prior authorization,

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peer to peer, all of which take is

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a burden on the staff and as as

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physicians do when we have to do that

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peer to peer. But this AI tool is

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doing this all seamlessly behind the scenes, almost

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80 to 90% approvals without pulling

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resources or time from the staff. So for

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every pain point, there seems to be a

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nice,

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model tech model that's coming up that's able

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to solve this. So,

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you know, it lets us practice medicine and

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not think about all these other,

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operational burdens.

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Mhmm.

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Yeah. Absolutely. And it's always great to hear

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you know, I think there's so much talk

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about AI, but it's great to hear observations

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about where it's, you know, really having an

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impact in physician practices.

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How are you thinking about growth over the

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next twelve months?

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Yeah. For us, we are an independent practice,

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and I, as I mentioned, I'd started about

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four years ago. So for now right now,

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we have a solid foundation. We've been recognized.

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We've had a good rapport with the patients.

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So for us, the next stage is really

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growing growth over,

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the next twelve months. We wanna expand our

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team, bring on another gastroenterologist.

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We actually just

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completed signing on onboarding a great physician for

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that.

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She who's gonna be starting next year. So

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increase this will help us increase our office

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and procedural

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capacity while we still remain aligned to our

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philosophy of patient first high touch care.

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We're also,

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focusing on operations again,

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bringing AI into the clinic side as well

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refining workflows.

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We are trying to adapt smart automation and

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optimizing staff engagement

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so that as we scale, we don't lose

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what makes us special.

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Right now, as an independent practice, it's a

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sense of connection and responsiveness for patients

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that they really appreciate. We wanna keep that

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going as we scale.

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So deepening that quality of every patient interaction

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and building a team culture that supports that

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is is truly exciting. So if we can

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maintain that alignment between clinical quality, patient experience,

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and physician satisfaction,

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I think that's the formula for sustainable success

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in this next, phase of outpatient GI care.

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Absolutely. That's something I hear from a lot

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of independent physicians, especially GIs, is when when

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I ask, you know, kind of what keeps

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you all going. It's that connection to community

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and that,

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yeah, like, that that real sense of, patient

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responsiveness as you said. Yeah.

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Is there anything else I haven't asked about

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that you think is important in this conversation?

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I think we hit on all the all

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the main points, but, really, I think what's

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most exciting is this revival or the renaissance

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of independent patient centered medicine for a while.

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Even few years ago, it felt like the

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only path was consultation. But now physicians are

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finding new creative ways to build sustainable independent

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models. So I'm really excited. I am really

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excited for all the physicians out there to

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build their own independent practices or join independent

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practices and make their voice heard. And that

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lets them practice the medicine the way they

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wanted to all along. So we're seeing practices

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in ASCs that reflect individual values and local

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community needs. So it's a win win, I

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think, for the patients, for the physicians,

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and reduce, you know, burnout when which happens

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when they practice in,

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stiff systems that that can't flex, that can't

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give them the autonomy they need. So,

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I think that's really key. This this next

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chapter in medicine is so energizing,

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and that's what is redefining,

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what quality means, not by adding layers, but

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by, you know, bringing it back to the

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basics, listening and partnering with the patient.

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Absolutely. I like to we can end it

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there. It's really,

277
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yeah. I think that resonates with so much

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of our audience.

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But, yeah, that's actually all I have for

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you today, doctor Mule.

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Thank you so much for joining us. Oh,

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thank you so much. It was a pleasure.

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Yeah. Yeah. It was a pleasure for me

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as well, and I look forward to connecting

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with you again in the future.

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Likewise.