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visit carecredit.comforward/beccarspod

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This is Chanel Bonger with the Becker's Healthcare

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podcast, and I am recording live at the

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21st annual Spine Orthopedic and Pain Management Driven

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ASC

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plus the Future of Spine Conference and sitting

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down with doctor Rob Swift,

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an orthopedic surgeon from Blue Sky Orthopedics.

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Doctor Swift, thank you so much for joining

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me today. Thank you very much for having

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me. Perfect. Well, to get us started, can

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you go ahead and tell us a little

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bit about your background and organization?

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Yeah. My name is Robert Swift. I'm an

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orthopedic surgeon. I work in Naples, Florida. I'm

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the director of Blue Sky Orthopedics,

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and I'm in a bunch of different

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specialties. I'm sports medicine, trauma, and joint replacement,

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and I'm a private practice entity

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living in a,

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a very complex

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orthopedic market.

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Perfect. And in recent years, the cost of

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health care has increased dramatically.

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Can you give us one example of how

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that has impacted your work?

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Yeah. I believe that,

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the high cost of health care actually

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is putting patients in a bind, and we're

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seeing a slight decrease in,

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elective surgeries,

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an increase in significant co payments. So people

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are having to make hard choices as it

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relates to returning their level of function, pain

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free function,

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and other

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amenities that they appreciate in their life, as

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well as just the cost of supplies and

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and staffing.

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And there's also other technologies that we have

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available to us to help increase some of

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those costs, but to

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go through them with a level of effectiveness

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and choose one that's gonna be efficient and

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cost effective,

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you know, they're become it becomes a time

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constraint at that point.

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Got it. And based on your experience, how

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has the patient provider,

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relationship changed over time? Well, I think now

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patients are coming armed with a lot of

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information. I mean, doctor Google has kinda worked

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against us,

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and a lot of times patients are trying

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things on their own, which I find interesting

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that they're willing to pay cash for whether

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it's peptides or stem cells or PRP from

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providers that,

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necessarily aren't as medically educated or versed or

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experienced,

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in their injuries and maladies.

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And then they're less likely or more hesitant

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to pay their co pays. So they're coming

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with a level of

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somewhat information

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that doesn't necessarily correlate to a level of

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knowledge.

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So kind of building on that, in the

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last decade or so, people are armed with

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more knowledge, not necessarily

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correct knowledge, but, with that, why do you

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think that is?

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Well, I think it's just the freedom of

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information and social media

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and influencers.

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And I think it's the corporatization

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of health care.

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You know, there's direct to consumer advertising,

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whether it's pharmaceutical companies or implant companies.

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And I think that really degrades the,

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the physician

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patient relationship.

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Got it. And kind of shifting gears here,

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understanding that a large part of health care

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is also customer service,

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how does the that patient experience impact your

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staff, and have they felt the effects of

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degraded level of trust in health care workers?

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Yeah. The with my staff, I mean, we

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really,

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try to keep it consistent in old school.

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We use technology platforms to kinda filter patients

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and and gain access to some patients and

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and filter out some of the questionnaires and

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and complaints so that when they

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speak with the staff initially,

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the staff is able to help them more.

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In many cases, we really try to pot

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provide a positive customer experience. I mean, now

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the our office is, you know,

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it's very clean. It's bright.

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There's coffee service.

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So we really try to make the the

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the patients comfortable.

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You know, we have cable TV. We try

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to limit other

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advertisements. We try to offer patient education on

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iPads

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so they can kinda have an education for

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their complaint.

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Those are some of the things we're trying

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to do to improve the patient experience and

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and capture the patients while we have them

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as a captive audience to educate them to

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our practice

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and what we're trying to accomplish,

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with our visit.

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Absolutely. You've already kinda mentioned a few examples

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of how you guys are improving that relationship,

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but when we think of re rebuilding it

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as a whole, where do you think the

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industry should start?

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I think that's a complex question. I mean,

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I sort of believe that we should go

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back to direct to physician advertising and not

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direct to consumer advertising.

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I think, you know, educating physicians on new

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techniques and procedures and

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and medicines, and let them be the conduit

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for,

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you know, appropriate

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dispersion and usage of those technologies

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and medicines

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and educating the consumer directly,

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I think will help reestablish that that doctor

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patient relationship,

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in a way of of respect and knowledge.

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So many people come in and they have

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information.

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And in many instances, they have they're misguided,

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or they're lacking,

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you know, the appropriate level of knowledge and

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expertise to

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to handle some of the information that's being

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given to them, or they come in scared

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and concerned

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based on a a list of side effects

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or or concerns,

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that have been, you know, published.

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Not that we shouldn't be able to give

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out information

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of concern or or limit information. I just

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think the direction should change to, you know,

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more wellness and health care focus and less

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on the corporatization and business aspect.

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I know there's money to be made in

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health care, but I think it should be

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done with a level of responsibility.

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Absolutely. Well, doctor Swift, I wanna thank you

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for your time today. But before I let

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you go, is there anything else that listeners

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should know?

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No. I think it's, it's a great core

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it's a great conference here. It gives a

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lot of opportunity to to network and and,

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open your eyes to some things that sometimes

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we don't get to see when we're caught

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in a busy practice.

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And we can, check new technologies and and,

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different partnerships and see how other surgeons and

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practices and, ambulatory surgery centers are able to,

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manipulate the complex landscape that has become health

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the corporatization of health care. Absolutely. Well, doctor

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Swift, I wanna thank you once again for

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your time today and for joining me on

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the Becker's Healthcare podcast. Thank you very much.