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forward slash beckerspodcast.
This is Gracelyn Keller with the Becker's Healthcare
Podcast, and we are live at the twenty
second annual Spine Orthopedic and Pain Management Conference.
I'm currently joined by doctor Vinay Belamkar, who
is the CEO at Apollo Pain Center. So
thank you so much for being here. Let's
start off by having you introduce yourself a
little bit further and tell us more about
your role and organization.
Oh, thank you for having me. This is
a great conference.
I look forward to it every year. I'm
a solo interventional pain provider in, located in
Indianapolis, Indiana.
Started my practice about five years ago in
the middle of COVID.
Before that, I was a hospital
based,
provider.
I provide comprehensive pain management
for
pretty much all comers. That's my niche is
not turn away any patients saying, oh, you're
a I only do this kind of pain
or that kind of pain. So we see
everything from some medication management all the way
to cancer pain,
the more advanced interventions,
things like that.
So it's been a challenging,
few years trying to
address all the broad spectrum of chronic pain.
Absolutely.
And let's start our conversation with what trends
or shifts you're currently seeing right now in
the industry that you think are most important
for leaders to pay attention to.
So from a chronic pain perspective, you know,
it's still
the, biggest problem
patients face, and there are more chronic pain
patients than diabetes, heart disease,
cancer combined.
But what I'm seeing is
chronic pain gets a lip service
and the multidisciplinary
approach.
But the way
the reimbursement is going and how
the payment structure is set up and the
service structure is set up, the care is
very fragmented.
And getting a more comprehensive, multidisciplinary
approach to chronic pain has been a challenge.
Of course, we're all struggling with the
the reimbursement
environment,
the inflationary
cost, and also the cost being transferred on
to the patients. So that seems to be
the biggest,
challenge.
I call it the best of times and
the worst of times kind of
boundary
because most patient
honestly, from a medical,
technological
science standpoint, this is the best time for
chronic pain. We have got I would not
have imagined all the services
and treatment options we have today and actually
treat and cure pain. But also,
at the same time,
the limitations placed by payers and things like
that is the most extreme at any time,
it looks like. So I call it the
best of times, worst of times, pondering.
Absolutely. And let's also touch on staffing and
workforce challenges as these continue to be a
concern across health care. So how is your
organization navigating these pressures, and what strategies have
you seen work well?
So,
we are definitely, the staffing,
especially right after COVID, has been a challenge
at multiple levels. I've been trying to find
good,
mid level providers, like advanced practice providers, has
been a challenge.
Also, just the regular
medical assistants and the day to day,
operations has been a struggle.
One of the ways we have addressed that
is trying more and more,
virtual
assistance, the virtual
remote
billing
type things.
So it's a balance. We're trying to make
it more of a hybrid.
But being
a hands on practice, you need people in
place.
Being in a city surrounded by multiple large
organizations like hospital based,
payers, there's always a competition to get good
employees. So that's been a challenge. So we're
trying to look at catching them early
and highlighting
the advantages of a small practice where they
get more,
hands on. They have
much bigger role in patient care rather than
being pigeonholed in, like, a big institution
where
they're, like, allowed only seven things, and they're
pigeonholed, and they stay there for a long,
long time.
So with a practice like Mann, people can
grow, develop professionally,
and have a lot more, I guess, satisfaction
in in my opinion. And people seem to
respond to that.
And as outpatient care continues to grow,
how do you see the role of ASCs
evolving within the broader health care ecosystem?
So
ASCs, I think,
the way,
having worked in a hospital for a long
time,
I think that ASCs
seem like to be poised
to play a very important role
in
delivering health care in these days. I mean,
the things we do in ASCs today are
were unheard of even ten, fifteen years ago.
And I think the patients enjoy that. They
like
the immediacy and the quality of care they
get.
And, also, definitely, the cost savings from a
good ASC
is,
I think, critical. I think going forward,
I see more and more ASCs being a
part of the solution.
And then as we round out our conversation,
many organizations are exploring new technologies, partnerships, or
care models to improve efficiency and outcomes. So
are there any innovations or initiatives that you've
found particularly promising?
So I think
we can't talk about any advance of disruption
without talking about AI.
So that's kind of something we're exploring,
from simple
documentation
to all the way to RCM and,
patient experience management.
As a small practice, it becomes a little
bit more challenging, but I think that's down
the pipe, and we'll all be dealing with
that.
The
other efficiencies
are, I think, patients being more and more
involved in their own care. I think it
it's been where
patients were trained that somebody else is responsible
for their health care. And I think people
are starting to realize the out of pocket
cost and what they're doing. I think that's
helping
in many ways,
to provide better care.
And
the other,
promising,
areas
just to the payer,
the payment reimbursement structure is
the conventional insurance based models are getting tighter
and tighter, and both employers,
patients, and independent doctors like ourselves,
the practices
are looking at alternate models of payment, like
debt care,
working
with employees and employers
and providing true value.
Because right now with the conventional model, we're
paying so much for administrative cost and
unnecessary
diversion to profits and other things. So I
think
this is pushing people more towards value based
care. And that's by that, I mean, true
value based where the value is decided by
the employer and the
patients who are actually paying for it.
Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for taking
the time to be here. Is there anything
else you'd like to share that we didn't
touch on today?
I think you, touched on most of the
issues we're dealing with today. But
like I said, it's an exciting time to
be in the health care profession. The technology,
not just in pain, is just exploding.
And we I think we will figure out
how to pay for this and how to
take care of patients in the long run.
Wonderful. Well, thank you again, for being on
the Becker's Healthcare podcast, and we are recording
live at the twenty second annual Spine Orthopedic
and Pain Management Conference. Thank you. It's my
pleasure.