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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'm currently joined by Ali Galani, who is
the ASC admin
Munster Surgery Center. So, Ali, thanks for joining
me today. We'd love to have you start
off by introducing yourself a little bit further
and telling us more about your work in
the industry.
Of course. Nice to be here. My name
is Ali Galani. I'm the administrator at Munster
Surgery Center.
It's a, pain specialist ASC in, Northwest Indiana,
Monster, Indiana.
We have around 3 ORs and, 10, prep
and recovery base.
And I've been in health care for around
15 years,
last,
4 of them in ASCs.
Wonderful.
Well, let's start our conversation today with ASC
volume. So across the country, this is expected
to increase by 16%
by 2032.
With this growth, what are the most challenging
issues to maintaining a positive patient experience?
Great question. I believe one of the biggest
challenges in the industry today is staffing.
Keeping up with the staff, especially
not just any staff, quality staff that who
can, work in harmony with physicians and, deliver
the job correctly, that's very important. The ex
patient expectations also are now
high. They are they're expecting more. They expect,
more seamless process from the appointment scheduling, all
the way to the post op phone calls.
So,
basically, that's also
on leadership just to provide the necessary,
technology to to make this process
even more efficient.
So in addition to that, basically, also to
keep up with the guidelines and regulations,
that's also one of the challenges.
ASCs are growing, as you said, and the
the regulations are getting more complex now. And
so, basically, you have to be up to
date, up to speed with all the, guidelines,
the regulations, accreditations, etcetera.
And kinda going along with that, what strategies
have worked for your organization to tackle those
challenges?
And what's one recommendation you have for health
care leaders to stay ahead?
Regarding staffing, what what we did, basically,
we adopted the method of cross training. So,
basically, we take the
prep and recovery staff, train them in the
OR and vice versa, our OR staff or
or or nurses trained in the prep and
recovery areas so they can cover each other,
if, we have any shortage of, or any
specific event.
Same thing with MAs, same thing with the
front desk. We trained our MAs to, handle
admitting and registration
so they can also fill in the if
needed,
basically, and make the process,
go keep going.
And shifting gears a little bit toward the
financial side, 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?
It's like very I think that's tied also
to staff development.
Basically, when leadership and management invest in their
staff, that will end up turning to their
benefits, basically, to keep the staff especially the
front desk, or the,
admitting slash registration staff. They need to be
aware of all kind of insurance
contract. They need to, be aware of what
options the ASC can provide
to help the patient if they cannot commit
financially.
So all of that is very important. And,
actually, I have an experience with us, basically,
when we conduct surveys every month,
every every week, but we collect them and
evaluate them every month. And we realized
that some some patients I put on the
comment section that they did not get a
clear specification about what
their balance is,
and also the co pays.
So we adopted
a new process
to keep calling the patients ahead of their
appointments just to make sure that they are
aware of their balance and they are aware
of their co pay depending.
And as we wrap up our conversation, are
there any parting words you'd like to share
or anything else you'd like to share on
the podcast?
Yes. So, basically, in the ASC world, to
have an a successful ASC,
now we just need to have a satisfied
provider, a satisfied patient, and satisfied staff. A
satisfied provider by keeping the
very good time management and process everything very
efficiently, the doctors need to go in and
out fast, go back to their clinic, and
see their see their patients.
Same thing for our patients. Satisfied patients will
will end up basically just going keep going
back, providing quality service. And
we are in pain, so, basically, we're treating
pain, and for patients, and they we are
happy to say that, basically, we see the
results. We see their life get, much, much
better than before before and after the procedure.
And happy staff, and satisfied staff, keep the
staff engaged, keep staff focused more on developing
the staff. Once they see the, the center
vision and once they see where the leadership
is going, they're gonna be more engaged. They're
gonna be more committed to provide all the
quality service that we're looking for.
Wonderful. Well, Ali, thanks so much for joining
me today on the Becker's Healthcare podcast. Again,
we are live at the business and operations
of ASCs. Thanks so much. Thank you so
much for having me.