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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 Michael Patterson,
who is the president and CEO of Mississippi
Valley Health. Michael, thanks for joining me this
morning. Would love to have you start by
taking a moment to introduce yourself and telling
us a little bit more about your work
in the industry.
Thank you. I'm, president and CEO of Mississippi
Valley Health. We have a couple of, surgery
centers that are large multi specialty surgery center
and a GI focused surgery center, both located
in Iowa. And I'm also the past president
of the ambulatory surgery center association.
So, I served on their board in several
of their, subcommittees and have been in the
industry for probably 20 plus years now.
Wonderful. Well, thanks for taking the time to
be here. I'd love to start our conversation
by talking about ASC volume that's expected to
increase across the country by 16% by 2032.
So with this growth, what is the most
pressing challenge to maintaining a positive patient experience?
I I think the biggest
opportunity we have is, retention. We talk a
lot about recruitment of nursing
techs and our support staff, but we don't
talk enough about retention.
And I think the longevity
of staff in a facility and an organization
creates a better experience for patients.
And I think that, you know, we've spent
some
some time targeting how do we not only
recruit folks, but better yet, how do we
retain the folks that we have that are
amazing
caregivers, people that know the business, know how
to work with patients around billing,
and also can ensure a safe, effective, and
and quality experience while they're at the surgery
center.
And what strategies have worked for your organization
to tackle some of those challenges?
And what's one recommendation you have for health
care leaders to stay ahead?
As leaders, you know, we do a lot
of talking, and I think we probably need
to do a lot more listening.
And we've made a focus effort to listen
to what our employees
not only want, but what they need.
And that I think has been instrumental in
our success for retention and recruitment.
I think if you really understand
the changing dynamic of the workforce,
where that's going and really wanna understand what
makes people happy with coming to work every
day,
then I think that leads to a better
patient experience. I think it leads to a
better employee experience.
And given, the challenges that that we're all
facing in health care, I think we need
to do a lot more listening.
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?
Health care is one of those interesting,
segments where you can walk in and have
no idea
what the cost is gonna be before you
have a procedure done. I mean, you take
your car into the shop, you know what
it's gonna cost to give you an estimate.
You go to the grocery store, you know
what you're gonna pay because the prices are
posted.
And I think that health care, we struggle
with that challenge because sometimes we don't actually
know, depending on CPT codes, what a patient's
bill is going to look like. But I
think the software is getting better. I think
the ability to really understand
the payer platforms.
And so what we're doing is actually upfront
collections.
In the last year or so, we are
collecting over 95%
of our patients' co pays upfront, so they
actually understand what's coming out of their pocket.
You know, they they don't worry as much
about what the insurance company is gonna pay.
But for sure, when it comes down to
their deductible and any co pays they have,
I think it's on us. It's an imperative
that we really
help patients understand exactly
what that bill is gonna look like. And
there are ways in which now there are
software programs and other areas in which we
we can do that a lot more effectively
than what we could do just 5 years
ago.
Absolutely.
And as we wrap up, are there any
parting words you'd like to share or anything
else you'd like to discuss on the podcast?
So the one piece that I would tell
everyone listening, if you're part of the ASC
community,
that they need to be a member
of ASCA.
We need a voice in DC. We need
a voice at the state level. And there's
no better organization than ASCA
to be