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cast. This is Chanel Banger with the Becker's
healthcare podcast, and I'm recording live at the
21st annual Spine Orthopedic and Pain Management driven
ASC
and Future of Spine Conference in Chicago,
and sitting down with doctor Russell Bodner, an
orthopedic surgeon at Regional Medical Group of Northwestern
Medicine. Doctor Bodner, thank you so much for
joining me today. My pleasure. Thank you for
having me. Perfect. Well, to get us started,
could you please tell us a bit about
your background and organization?
Yes. I'm a general orthopedic surgeon with interest
in sports medicine and
joint replacement
with a subspecialty
interest in the hip spine relationship.
I practice about an hour from here in
the farmlands outside of Chicago.
I'm an employed physician,
and,
this is my first time being at the
Becker's conference. Looking forward to speaking to a
group of neurosurgeons
tomorrow about the hip spine relationship.
Exciting. Thank you so much for that introduction.
Now moving forward, based on your experience, how
has the patient provider dynamic changed over time?
Well, I've been in private and employed practice
now for 35 years.
And once you get inside an examination
room with a patient,
my
approach hasn't changed very much.
What I don't
enjoy is the amount of time doctors have
now been required to spend on computers.
So I don't use a computer in the
room with a patient.
I,
talk with them, discuss their problems, give them
a diagnosis, and set out a treatment plan,
And that has that has never changed.
Got it. And moving forward, even though we
have seen an increased interest from people improving
their overall health and wellness in the last
decade or so, many people seem to feel
more confident taking matters into their own hands
rather than seeking out professional opinions. Why do
you think that is?
I think it's because information is more readily
available
online.
People can talk about
different doctors online. They can get reviews online.
They can research their own medical problems online.
So you have a a more informed patient
looking,
to solve their own problems.
And many times these days, the doctors aren't
really
performing
as well as they should to solve patients'
problems.
Got it. And, doctor Benner, I wanna thank
you for your time today. But before I
let you go,
I have one more question for you. From
an organizational standpoint, do you have any strategies
in place aimed at helping bring in patients
or to improve retention?
Well, patient retention has always been a important
thing for
myself and my partners. We feel it's important
to, establish long term relationships
with any given patient and
control
their domain so they don't start looking elsewhere
for care,
for this problem, other problems, or their family's
problems.
So being a tentative
and
addressing their needs
and being able to help them, direct them,
refer them,
has always been a very important strategy
for successful practices.
Absolutely. Well, doctor Bodner, I wanna thank you
once again for your time today and for
joining me on the Becker's HealthCare podcast.
My pleasure.