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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 am currently joined by doctor Ken Rich,

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who is the president at Raleigh Neurosurgery Clinic.

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So, doctor Rich, thanks so much for joining

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me today. Would love to have you start

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off by introducing yourself and telling us a

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little bit more about your role in the

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industry.

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Thank you for inviting me. My name is

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Ken Rich, r I c h, and I

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am the president of Raleigh Neurosurgical

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Clinic in North Carolina.

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I'm also the

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medical director at RASC and the chairman of

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the board there.

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And I've been practicing neurosurgery

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for 40 years since my residency. So more

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and more my role is administrative.

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And while I still

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get in the operating room to assist my

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younger partners,

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They to be honest, they have better eyes

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and hands than I do now.

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Well, thank you for being here this morning.

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We'd love to start our conversation here talking

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about ASC volume. So across the country, this

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is expected to increase

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by 16%

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by the year 2032.

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With this growth, what is the most pressing

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challenge to maintaining a positive patient experience?

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Well, I think 2 things come to mind

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on that. Of course, we all love growth

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and 16%

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growth per year sounds really good.

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But hiring staff to

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take care of that growth is difficult in

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today's day and age.

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Staff being

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the pre and post op nurses, the front

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office,

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the OR techs and the OR nurses and

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anesthesia.

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That's very challenging

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today.

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But I think an even more important thing

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is to us, we have a very small

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ASC.

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It's only

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got 2 operating rooms that can run simultaneously.

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And what that does, it creates an ambiance

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in pre op and post op of a

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quiet,

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calm,

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very nice

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setting

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for the patients and their families. And that's

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one of the things we hear

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most

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when patients give us feedback is how pleasant

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it was. When we go to our level

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1 trauma center,

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it's

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got 25 people getting ready for surgery at

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the same time and it's like herding cattle

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and they get the job done. But I

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don't think it's anywhere near as pleasant an

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experience. And as we grow,

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we have to be very careful to maintain

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that because I think that's

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one of the most

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awesome things about doing this in a small

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ambulatory surgery center.

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Absolutely.

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And going off of that, what strategies have

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worked for your organization to tackle some of

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these challenges? And what's one recommendation you have

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for health care leaders to stay ahead?

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Well, we we have done things like make

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sure our staff

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is really well taken care of. And that

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doesn't just mean paychecks. That means

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our small surgery center, we only have ten

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owners.

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So the owners all get to know the

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staff quite well. We know them. We know

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their families.

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We know what they're doing on vacation.

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And I think that creates a very nice

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rapport between

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the surgeons

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and the staff and gets them very happy.

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And a very interesting

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book to read is a book called Patients

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Come Second.

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It's by Paul

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Sprigelman

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and Britt Barrett.

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And we all like to put our patients

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first.

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But this takes a little different philosophy. It

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says,

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no, put your staff first.

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If they're

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happy,

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they will convey that to the patients, and

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you'll have both a happy staff and happy

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patients. It's a short book. It's a good

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read, and I would recommend that.

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Wonderful. Well, thank you for that recommendation.

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And shifting gears just a little bit to

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the financial side, how can leaders ensure their

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staff are well equipped to help patients navigate

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the financial aspect of care? And how does

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this benefit patient provider relationships?

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Well, if the patient gets surprises,

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you're not going to have very happy patients.

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It may be after the fact, you may

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have done the surgery.

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But that word-of-mouth

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advertising that's so important

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to growing your practice and growing your surgery

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center is

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it's going to be affected negatively.

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So what we try to do is before

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the surgery,

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we have a person who can present to

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the patients

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and their family

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the economic pros and cons of doing things

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in the surgery center. Yes, upfront, you're going

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to have more costs, but we can help

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you with that. We can help you

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get a loan that'll cover that that you

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can pay back slowly.

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But overall, you're going to save a lot

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of money doing things in the surgery center.

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So we try to educate them

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not just about the pros of a surgery

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center, but also here's what to expect. We

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want to get

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our co pays up front, and

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we'll help you with that.

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And as we wrap our conversation here, is

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there any parting words you'd like to share

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on the podcast?

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Well, I I think ASCs

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are certainly

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here to stay.

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We our ASC is totally owned by our

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10 partners.

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And I think that's important to stay away

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from

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hospitals taking over 51%

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of your ASC so they can

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use their

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insurance contracts and so forth. Yes, it's more

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money.

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But now you have a boss, they own

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51%

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of your company.

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And it makes it much harder

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with them in charge

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to do the kind of things you need

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to do to keep your staff happy

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and to be flexible.

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Big institutions

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aren't flexible.

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Absolutely. Well, doctor Rich, 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.