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This is Gracelyn Keller with the Becker's Healthcare

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Podcast, and we are live at the business

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and operations of ASCs.

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I'm joined right now by Jeffrey Singerman who

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serves as the director of operations at Manhattan

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Endoscopy Center. So, Jeffrey, thanks so much for

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joining me this morning. My pleasure. We'd love

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to have you start off by introducing yourself

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a little bit further and explaining your work

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in the industry. Okay. So as you said,

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I'm Jeffrey Singerman. I am the director of

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ops for Manhattan Endoscopy. We're located in midtown

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Manhattan,

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not too far from Grand Central, if you

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know New York City at all.

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We are freestanding

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ASC

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associated with a management company. I don't know

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if I can use their name or not.

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It's, FCA

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is our management company. We have 7 procedure

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rooms, about 25 doctors scope with us,

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employ about 50 people, and should end the

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year doing about 10 to 11000,

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patients.

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Wonderful. Well, thank you for taking the time

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to be here. 1st question for you today.

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ASC volume across the country is expected to

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increase by 16%

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by the year 2032.

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So with this growth, what is the most

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pressing challenge to maintaining a positive patient experience?

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If I boil it down to one thing,

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it's probably recruitment and succession planning. So obviously,

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succession planning with our gastroenterologists,

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we have an aging population,

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2 or 3 of our physicians are gonna

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age out, and it's getting harder and harder

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in an area like New York,

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to recruit physicians

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who want to work in a single specialty,

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not affiliated with a hospital

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ASC.

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Coinciding with that is, as you can imagine,

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given the New York market and the large

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health systems that we have there,

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it's difficult for us to recruit

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nursing staff, anesthesiologists,

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and technical staff,

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being the technicians that are in the room

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with the, providers.

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And going along with that, what strategies have

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worked for your organization to tackle that challenge?

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And what's one recommendation that you have for

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health care leaders to stay ahead?

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So

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what we're doing is

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from a succession planning standpoint,

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there is immediate buy in.

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So as we recruit fellows who are graduating

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fellowship programs,

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they can buy in on day 1,

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as opposed to practices that will say, yeah,

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you can buy in in year 3 or

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year 5, and year 3, and year 5

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never really occur.

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And then they're now 5 years into their

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career, and they're looking for another position.

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And so far, that seems to have worked

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for us.

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From a staff standpoint,

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we try to be as flexible as possible

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with the hours that people can work. We

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will offer 8 hour days and 10 hour

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days.

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We're very transparent upfront when we recruit as

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to what the job entails,

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the hours that they can work, and we

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try to accommodate where we can.

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And we also keep a large stable or

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per diems

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both on anesthesiologists

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and nurses

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and even some technicians that wanna moonlight, and

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that helps us fill the slots.

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And how can leaders ensure that their staff

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are well equipped to help patients navigate the

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financial aspects of their care? And how does

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this benefit the patient provider relationships?

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So I think you have to look to

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technologies

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to help you get through

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to make it a really good

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provider patient experience.

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So

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for example,

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all our post calls are not post calls.

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They're post texts.

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So in our environment, there's very little we

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can do for the patient themselves if they

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have an issue. So our text basically the

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descriptor is if you're having an issue, either

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go to an ED or contact your gastroenterologist.

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We look to wherever we can push technology

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to work to make the patient

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experience better

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before they even come into the center.

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Absolutely. Well, as we wrap up here, is

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there anything else you'd like to share on

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the podcast today?

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Yeah. I think be transparent.

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I'm being honest and transparent when you're hiring.

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And I think if everyone's

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expectations

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are put forth during the hiring process,

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I think it's a better experience for everyone.

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And, ultimately,

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the the better the experience

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for the employee,

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obviously, then better the experience for the patient.

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A 100%. Well, Jeff, thanks so much for

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joining me today on the Becker's Healthcare podcast.

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Again, we are live at the business and

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operations of ASCs. Thanks so much. My pleasure.

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Thank you.