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dot com forward slash

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pod. Test. This is chanel Bun with Becker

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Healthcare care podcast, and I'm recording live at

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the Becker Healthcare care 20 first Samuel Spine

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orthopedic paid management driven As

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Plus the future of Spine Conference. And right

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now, I'm... Sitting with Doctor Kim Han Henson,

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the associate professor, of an,

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pain an addiction at the university of Nebraska

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Medical Center,

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Doctor Han Henson. Thank you so much for

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joining me today. Of Well, thank you. I

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appreciate your time today. Well, to get us

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started, Could you please tell us a little

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bit about yourself or your background an organization?

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I'd love to.

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So I originally started my career out as

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an accountant,

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and I did that for approximately 8 years

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and decided I had too many nights and

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weekends off. So I then went back to

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school and went to medical school, I did

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my training at Loma Lending University in Southern

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California.

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And then I came to Nebraska for residency.

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I completed a residency in,

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and then went on to a pain medicine

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fellowship,

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And then during Covid, I was able to

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study and take the test for addiction medicine,

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so I grandfather into the

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Medicine,

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specialty as well, which I think has been

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very helpful in the pain realm because there's

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so many patients who really need appropriate addiction

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care

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Got it. And to get us into the

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meat of the podcast a bit, health care

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costs are rising

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significantly,

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especially since the pandemic,

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how has that impacted your work?

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I think it impacts it daily actually, in

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many different ways. I mean, we've had to

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switch... The equipment we use because of increasing

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costs of that. So I feel like sometimes

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the kits I use now are not quite

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the quality as what they use to be

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in the past. But more importantly, I think

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it is affected patient access to care even

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more. So there are certain procedures ends to

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certain

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medications I cannot offer certain patients because of

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the lack of reimbursement by their

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insurance companies, certain And to me, that's the

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most heartbreaking, especially if I know I have

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a really good therapy to help a patient

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and yet, I'm completely unable to access them.

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Absolutely. And based on your experience, how has

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the patient provider dynamic changed over time?

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They feel that a lot of patients have

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taken the time to

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look up online some of the things that

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are affecting them and some of the medications

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that have been recommended to them in the

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past So I feel in general, a lot

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of patients are more well informed coming into

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clinic.

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And so I feel that that gives us

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a more dynamic

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conversation about... What would be appropriate

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and what, you know, even though they may

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have read about a medication based on their

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other health comorbidities

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may or may not be a good idea

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for them.

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So I've enjoyed

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being able to take the conversations up to

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a new level

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based on the fact that patients come in

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pretty well informed already.

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Absolutely. I'm kind of tacking onto to that

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with patients being more informed, especially in more

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recent years with social media and whatnot. People

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are taking their health into their own hands

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and

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not seeking out professional opinions as much. Why

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do you think that is?

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I think some people over rely on the

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Internet,

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or they're just so desperate for pain relief.

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They just decide to, you know, maybe take

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too much Tylenol owens out of what's actually

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recommended on the bottle.

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So I think it's a combination of both

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things. I think a lot of people in

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their desk operation will do things that are

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risky, and maybe not even realize it's a

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risky decision.

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But also if they read something on the

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Internet, they've

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decided they have whatever diagnosis

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and

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then go ahead and pursue the treatment for

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that, which may not actually be accurate,

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I think patients are also seeking a lot

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more

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of, you know, agriculture, massage, things of those

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nature. I think are appropriate and and probably

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beneficial for them to have tried prior to

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me seeing them?

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Absolutely. And from an organizational standpoint, do you

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have any strategies in place aimed at helping

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bring in patients or to help improve retention?

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Yes. We we do some advertising I'll will

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admit our advertising budget has been drastically decreased

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since Covid funding has dried up. But for

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the most part, we do a lot of

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surveys. We do a lot of asking. Patients

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how we can do a better job in

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hopes that we can create a better environment

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for them either in quicker or check times.

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Our or a more appropriate

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advice or whatever they're wanting from the surveys.

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We take very close look at those

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at it. And you've kind of I've walked

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us through how to improve retention, But can

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you tell us why retention is so important?

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Well, many pain patients that see me initially

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don't have a lot of trust in the

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medical system. They've been bounced from physician to

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physician with, you know, little or no options

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for their pain.

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And I think it takes a few visits

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to create trust, within that relationship. So I

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feel I'm better able to help patients. If

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I've seen them multiple times, and we've kind

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of developed a relationship where they feel like

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they can rely on my advice, and then

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I'm not blowing them off or

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just saying that their pain made up in

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their head.

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Absolutely. Well, doctor Hai Jensen, I wanna thank

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you for your time today, but before I

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let you go, is there anything else that

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listeners should know?

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You know, I think,

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if they realize how hard

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we as physicians try to help patients. And

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we really do wanna be there to help

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them.

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With whatever

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tips and techniques that we have. Sometimes

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as a physician, I'm frustrated because I don't

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have more things to offer the patient

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But I think if we work together, even

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if I don't have a lot of magical

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medications or procedures to heal people. Usually, we

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can work together to find solutions that can

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help patients live a more productive life.

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Absolutely. Well, Doctor. Han, and I wanna thank

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you once again for your time today, and

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for joining me on the Becker health podcast.

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Thank you very much.

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Health