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This is Gracelyn Keller with the Becker's Healthcare
podcast, and we are live at the business
and operations of ASC's events.
I am joined right now by doctor Tripp
Gordon, who is a co medical director
at Northway Surgery and Pain Center. Doctor Gordon,
thanks so much for joining me. Would love
to start off by having you introduce yourself
and tell us a little bit more about
your work in the industry.
Grace, thank you for having me here. I'm
a solo practitioner
in upstate New York based in Clifton Park
and Queensbury.
We have 2 offices
and a surgery center in Clifton Park, New
York.
Surgery center is a 10,000 square foot 4
OR surgery center.
I partner with another pain management provider.
And between us, we also share some other
offices. We have 5 offices total
with 4 operating rooms outside the surgery center.
So in total, we have 8
operating rooms, so we can shift our patients
back and forth as needed
based on whatever circumstances may dictate.
Wonderful. Well, thank you for being here, and
let's start our conversation with talking about ASC
volume. So this is expected to increase
countrywide
by 16% by the year 2032.
So with this growth, what are the most
pressing challenges to maintaining a positive patient experience?
Yeah. Grace, when I look at that number,
it's it's startling because our biggest impediment in
moving patients into the surgery center, getting them
taken care of
is dealing with the insurance companies.
And the throughput
with the insurance companies is just a major
resistor
to getting patients cared for. We can get
them in our office quickly. We can get
them scheduled quickly,
but we can take care of them efficiently
and effectively.
But we just have a hard time as
most
practitioners do in dealing with the impediments
from all the different insurance companies that we
deal with. A 100%.
And kind of going along with that, what
strategies have worked for your organization in tackling
this insurance challenge? And what's one recommendation you
have for health care leaders to stay ahead
of these challenges?
The the one main focus we have is
trying to be patient centric. So
that extends not just in the medical care
part of it, but in educating them on
their insurance, educating them on how to deal
with their insurance,
trying to sometimes guide them away from different
insurance companies that are, you know, somewhat predatory
or predatory on their patients
and guide them to companies that may be
more helpful in providing
adequate
and effective care.
Patients
really get very, very frustrated and will turn
away from the practice.
If you can move them through, they really
don't care why. But if you educate them,
maybe guide them, move them to effective, you
know,
insurance platforms
that can make a big difference.
100%.
And how can leaders ensure their staff are
well equipped to handle and help patients navigate
the financial aspects of their care? And how
does this benefit patient provider relationships?
I think
you can't
focus on your staff until you focus on
yourself. You need great advisors.
You need great help. You need great, you
know, you need to start with a group
of
staff, whether it's your nurse practitioners,
your front desk,
even your billing people
that understand
we're starting with a patient.
We're educating you on what, giving you what
you need to
1, care for them well,
provide a good plan of care
and move them through to, effective treatments in
a rapid fashion.
So what we do is I what I
personally do is, you know, obviously, here at
Becker's conference,
Becker's rise a great, you know, you can
follow the platform from their emails and,
you know, and events
to working with
good accounting firms, good legal staff, good. And,
and very importantly, having a great backup. My
CEO is, who happens to be my wife
is a nurse with a healthcare MBA. And
having that in house
is a tremendous
benefit to our staff and our patients
and, to really keeping me sane.
Absolutely.
And as we wrap up here, is there
anything else you'd like to share on the
podcast or any closing words you have?
I think,
you know, it's a broad question and there's
so many thoughts going through my head.
But I but I wanna emphasize the fact
that you really need
great backup.
You need to
remain educated. You mean to
work with your staff and help them through
their, their struggles.
Oftentimes I'll have a staff member or nurse
practitioner that will come to me and say,
I don't know, I can't deal with this
patient. They've got so many problems, they're difficult
to deal with.
And I'll say, let's break it down. You
know, we're here to help them.
They've got joint problems, they've got back problems,
they've got neck problems.
We can do so much for this patient.
We can help
change their life.
So really break it down
with your patients and point out what your
plan of care is. How are you gonna
move them to a better spot by delivering
their care in an effective and efficient manner?
Wonderful. Well, doctor Gordon, thanks so much for
joining me today on the Becker's healthcare podcast.
Again, we are live at the business and
operations of ASCs.
Thank you, Grace.