Hi, everyone. This is Brian Zimmerman with Becker's
Healthcare. Thank you so much for tuning in
to the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
Today, we're on-site at Becker's twenty second annual
spine orthopedic and pain management driven ASC and
the future of spine conference.
We're gonna talk about enhancing access, leveraging technology,
and leading digital transformation in orthopedic care.
Joining me for this conversation is Meredith Worf,
chief executive officer of Mississippi Sports Medicine and
Orthopedic Center, a part of US Orthopedic Partners.
Meredith, thank you so much for being here.
Great. Thank you so much for having me.
So so to kick things off, let's just
start with an introduction, getting to know you
a bit more than the the brief wind
up I gave you there.
Just just go ahead and share a few
pertinent details about your background. Oh, absolutely. So
I've been in the health care space almost
twenty years now. Before that, I was in
public accounting,
before I transitioned into health care. Currently, I
am the CEO of Mississippi Sports Medicine Orthopedic
Center. We are a,
sub specialized group of about 45 providers, 21,
orthopedic surgeons and pain management specialists.
We have a vertically integrated
practice including our own surgery center,
everything from urgent care to pharmacy to imaging,
you name it. So we really have strived
in the last,
really ten years to provide a seamless
continuity of care for anyone, needing orthopedic
orthopedic care. And then I'm also the senior
vice president of ASC strategy at US Orthopedic
Partners. So we, in 2020, became a part
of a
a bigger MSO
group. We have 10 facilities across the Southeast
in Alabama, Mississippi, and in Louisiana,
and we are, excited as we kinda watch
the the transformation of how care is not
only delivered, but also
accessed.
Yeah. And let's get right into that access
component because, of course, that's
a that's a that's a priority for many.
It's a challenge for for many sort of
improving that access. Can you talk a little
bit about the strategies or or, I guess,
even perspectives that you brought to the table
that are helping improve
access to the patient journey while also, you
know, really supporting staff throughout this?
Yeah. Well, I know it's no secret. Everybody
in the country knows that everything's going digital,
especially in the last five years. It's been
just exponentially
increasing everything from
having a digital front door to the use
of different AI technologies,
and overarching the macro trend of just consumer
driven decisions and who they
want to see for their elective orthopedic care.
So, you know, we've really focused,
especially in the last, you know, since COVID
really, in how to
create the easiest possible way to to get
an appointment with the
subspecialized,
specialist. If that's urgent care, then, you know,
patient decides that they've
had a, you know, shoulder that's been hurting
for a long time, and today's the day
I wanna get seen. Well, you need to
have a way for them to be seen
today
before, you know, something comes up. So,
we're in a world now where everything is,
you know, now now now. We're all in,
all in our little computers. We call cell
phones here a 100% of the day. And
so that digital front door is really important.
The, the AI type technology is as well.
I was in a, a session earlier today,
and and there was a really,
great comment made and that, you know, all
companies
don't really have AI. You know, it's calling
back in the .com,
you know, era when everybody said, just put
a .com behind your name and you're in
the tech business. Well, that's not really how
it works. You know, which companies are truly
using,
artificial intelligence to,
solve problems
that exist Yep. For us. It it I
I will have to confess to listeners that
I was also in that session.
And I'm gonna ask you, I think, the
same question I asked,
that gentleman, which is what are you looking
for in an AI partner?
Yeah. Great question. So,
you know, we're here to talk about access,
so let's talk about that. Right. In a
subspecialized
practice, you've got certain physicians who see
maybe it's just shoulder and elbow, maybe it's
only hand and wrist, it's only foot and
ankle. Well, they're in clinic certain days of
the week and have availability, you know, obviously
want them as full as they can be
every day. So
we need to have
a way to,
number one, answer phone calls quicker than our
call room can at at 09:00 in the
morning when you've got, you know, 65 calls
in the queue. We can't hire 65 people
because you don't have that much of a
queue all day long every day. You know?
So you need to be able to answer
the phone, and then you also need to
be able to quickly
understand from that caller
what they're needing. Is it an injury?
Are we in network with the payer?
All all the the different nuances around creating
a patient appointment.
Every physician has
a certain matrix in which they like to
govern their schedule to be as efficient as
they can be.
So you think about it, someone in the
call center,
is having to flip through pages to try
to understand,
wait, what's a clavicle or what's a what's
a humorous and what's a, you know, and
then does this doctor see
shoulders? Does it you know? So there's just
a lot of decision points
that logically can be
you know, we can use technology to deduce,
but we still have to have a component
of oversight, right, as we're doing that. So
what are we looking for? A company that
can, first of all, partner with us to
look at our operations and create something that
really helps us that fits to what we
do every day, and at the end of
the day,
make the jobs easier for the people that
we do have, you know, making those appointments.
So letting them take off the mundane task
and let them really focus on the things
that that drive value and customer satisfaction.
Yeah. So, really, you're looking for fit. It
can it can it can plug in,
but, also, it's going to actually make the
lives of the humans around around better. Correct?
Yes. Correct. Can can you share more about,
I guess, then the the outcomes you've seen?
What has it meant for for your staff?
What has it meant for your patients?
Absolutely. So I think the thought of, adding
in technology
to a
a call tree, for example,
could be,
you know, people worry a little bit about,
well, are you gonna get rid of of
the people that work here? You can't just
all be, you know, be all technology. A
robot can't answer every every single call. Well,
at the end of the day,
what if the AI agent answers the call
and then within a couple of seconds,
routes the call to exactly where it needs
to go. You know? And then meantime can
answer
as many calls that come in at one
time. So how has it changed our,
our day to day life? We are early
in the adoption of of this, but we're
rolling out,
a program that we really are excited about.
So far, it's the AI bot has been
able to take on about 20% of the
calls that come in every day, just for
mundane
task like a confirm an appointment or a
location or to, you know, cancel or reschedule.
And then, you know, the next piece I
think is really important, which should be able
to
actually send a message directly to
a care team. Right?
So it takes away several
translating components. It can just listen to the
call, get the message to the team. You
know, the team can call you back even
even more quickly.
So, again, just creating a little bit more
simple,
you know, way to get the job done
every day. And and I imagine, like, getting
that message too feels,
I guess, directly to the clinician. It's it's
a license to act. Like, you know what
I mean? It sort of encourages and empowers
them to act. Right? Yeah. Yes. And then,
you know, we're we're looking
at we are implementing a scheduling software
that is not only gonna be, you know,
interfaces with our practice management system, so it
can comb the appointment schedules and come up
with next appointments.
But it's also gonna help us keep track
of rotation
between physicians of of patients that call in.
I mean, those are you know, we've got
spreadsheets where we've historically had to had to
track all of this.
The program's gonna do that for us. And
then, I guess, over overlaying the whole thing
is that if a patient, you know, is
becoming frustrated or talking to the bot or
whatever, it automatically routes back to our our
agents in the call center. Yep. Certainly. That's
that's really fascinating. Can can you share I
guess, you've talked about what you look for,
what you want out of a solution, and
I'm sure that bleeds into this next question,
which is about the process by which you
go about making these decisions.
Can you talk and and also being a
part of a larger organization now, can you
talk a little bit about, like, who's at
the table for these decisions?
What are your considerations? I imagine
making sure it's patient centric and good for
staff are our top priorities. But what else
could you share about that process?
And then I have another question for you.
Yeah. No. Great, great question. So like I
said, we are a band of
10 orthopedic groups across several states, we are
all on the same practice management system and
EMR, which is which is helpful.
And,
you know, some products are best tested in
a smaller
group and some are best tested in a
larger group. So Mississippi sports medicine is, one
of the the largest groups in the platform,
and so we felt like,
you know, with the complicated nature,
by which
appointments are made and all different, you know,
whether it's an MRI,
you know, clinic appointment, you know, all of
those things that if we could, you know,
create this, if it works at Mississippi Sports
Medicine,
then it could work elsewhere as well. So
that's the beauty of it is you can
test test out products in a small practice
or in a big practice. Mhmm. Very cool.
I guess then as we come to a
close here, a couple more questions for you.
But what are you excited about as as,
the the this continues to advance? I think
your enthusiasm comes through. I really wanna hear
just to pinpoint what are you excited about
as as the strategy continues to roll out.
Yeah. Several things.
Number one, we've got we call it our
twenty four seven
app. And so anyone in the community, all
the athletic teams that that our our company
covers, and you can scan a QR code
and chat with a
live person
as to what they're experiencing. And and that
live person can tell them, okay, go get
an appointment
or you you should be fine to rest
at NYSED, things like that. Everything there is
recorded and we're able to follow-up on it.
We're soon gonna be able to use that
app
interface with
our our partner here to actually create that
appointment all in one. So the patient scans
a QR code. They are educated about, hey.
You're gonna be okay, but let's get you
in to see a doctor in the next
couple of days. They've got an appointment. Here
they are. Or if you wanted to call
in and,
talk with the AI,
you know, bot, make that super quick and
and seamless,
you can go online and use a chat.
I personally love a chat. That's especially on
if I have a chat or a portal
option, that's the easiest way to to, to
get a question answered. So I'm just I'm
excited that we can use technology
to
to leverage our wonderful employees that we have
to really focus on
innovating and providing just that over the top
customer service mentality that that we have to
do alongside our best clinical care. Yeah. I
imagine too that immediate sort of patient education,
kinda does wonders for the the patient experience
because
I imagine being confused and especially when it
relates to your health. We we're all human.
You know? Probably not bringing out our best
selves in those situations. Right. Right. So I
imagine it does wonders for them. Right? Right.
And we wanna be the resource. You know,
we want in the community,
where we serve. We want to be
the WebMD. You know, where do you go
to get your answers? Yeah. Call us. You
know, don't don't check all the Google places,
you know? Yeah. Call us. Be the source
of Absolutely. For for your community. Mhmm. That's
excellent.
Is there anything else you wanna share? Any
closing thoughts for listeners before I let you
go?
You know, technology's here. We really are excited
about finding ways to embrace it.
Finding the right partner is obviously critical, and
everything is expensive. You know? So you really
have to vet those partners to make sure
that,
it's gonna solve a problem and not just
make
the application
look better to the patient or whatnot, you
know, really needs to solve a problem. And
at the end of the day, you know,
technology's got to empower
our people. It doesn't replace people. So Yep.
Excellent place to close. Thank you, Meredith. Thank
you so much. I also wanna thank our
podcast sponsor Relation. You can tune into more
podcasts from Becker's Healthcare by visiting our podcast
page at beckerspodcast.com.