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This is Gracelyn Keller with the Becker's Healthcare
podcast, and we are live at the business
and operations of ASCs.
I am joined right now by Ademina
Pedraza, who is the medical director at Deerpath
Ambulatory Surgical Center in Morris, Illinois. So thank
you so much for joining me today, and
would love to have you start off by
introducing yourself and telling us a little bit
more about your work in the industry.
Well, as you mentioned, I'm a physician anesthesiologist
and the medical director at your path ambulatory
surgery center in Morris, Illinois.
I've been working in
the medical profession for over 38 years.
Working as the medical director
at Your Path has
expanded my scope of practice into the business
aspect
and
the importance
of
the teamwork in making a successful
surgery center work efficiently.
Absolutely. Well, thank you for being here today.
And first question for you,
ASC volume across the country is expected to
increase by 16%
by 2032.
So with this growth, what are the most
pressing challenges to maintaining a positive patient experience?
I think the most pressing situation right now
for all surgery center is staff employment.
Having consistent
staff
that's familiar and comfortable
with their working environment
helps to expedite
and make patients feel more comfortable.
If somebody isn't shuffling around
looking for supplies
or doesn't know the flow of the system,
patients become insecure.
They want confidence.
They want
a comfortable experience.
They don't want to have any mistrust.
So when your staff is comfortable,
they'll be friendly and happy to your patients.
And the patients feel that. They notice the
difference
instead of a hustle bustle of a bigger
hospital setting.
100%.
And kind of going along now, what strategies
have worked for your organization to tackle some
of those challenges?
And what's one recommendation that you have for
health care leaders to stay ahead?
Educating their staff.
Education, education, education.
If everybody's familiar with the procedure
and the expectations,
we take our preoperative staff. We move them
into the operating room to observe, to see
what the surgery is about so that when
the patients come out in the outpatient area,
they're able to
confidently explain
and
answer questions that the patients may have and
understand
how complicated of a procedure
it was.
A lot of the nurses that are limited
to their ambulatory area or their inner and
outpatient area don't understand what's happening in the
operating room. By having the staff
be immersed
in the full experience
offers the patient an opportunity to experience the
full experience and have ease to answering questions.
And how can leaders ensure their staff are
well equipped to help patients navigate the financial
aspects of care? And how does this benefit
patient provider relationships?
Oh, it's very important.
You know, the bottom line is the bottom
line for all patients.
So understanding
what's expected, whether there's a co pay or
no co pay
or
whether physical therapy is covered under their postoperative
care is important discussions to be done before
entering our surgery center.
So it starts in the deposition's office.
We also recommend that our
registration staff calls the night before to see
if there's any questions
that they're prepared to whether they need to
bring a card or a co pay. And
this helps the overall experience. If patients have
less surprises,
they're happier.
A 100%.
Is there anything else you'd like to share
or talk about today on the podcast?
I think it's important
for ambulatory surgery centers to realize that the
team approach is is extremely important.
You know,
reimbursement and paying people for their time is
one thing,
but recognition
of their input as a team member
is ultimately
the best thing that you can do to
have
a good working environment.
Everybody
tries their best from the person that smiles
at the front desk to the person that
leads them into the operating room. To make
a full
experience for every patient,
it has to be teamwork. And the recognition
of all this work
is probably more important than reimbursement.
I mean, of course, that's what everybody looks
for in a job is their salary. But
recognition of their work is ultimately
the thing that'll keep workers staying
at your facility.
Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for taking
the time to join me today on the
Becker's healthcare podcast. Again, we're live at the
business and operations of ASCs. Thanks so much.
Thank you.