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forward slash beckerspodcast.
This is Gracelyn Keller with the Becker's Healthcare
Podcast, and we are recording live at the
thirty first annual business and operations of ASCs.
I'm currently joined by Aziza Dorsey, who is
the COO at APMG.
Aziza, thanks for being here. Let's kick off
by having you share a little bit more
about yourself and your work in the ASC
space.
Yeah. Thank you. Happy to be here. So,
you know, all the work I do is
currently in an ambulatory surgery center focused on
spine pain and ortho.
Those are the specialties that we focus on
in Los Angeles. So it's very different market
I'm hearing here at the conference than other,
states.
But,
we have five surgery centers across Southern California
and 10 clinics. So it's a lot of
work. You know, our budget is very big
and, you know, we have a lot a
large patient population.
But,
yeah.
Wonderful.
Well, let's start our conversation talking about the
ASC market. In The US, this is projected
to reach $60,800,000,000
by 2030
and continues to experience strong year over year
growth.
So from your perspective, what are the most
significant trends in Market Forces driving this expansion,
and how should ASC leaders be preparing today?
Great question. You know, number one, insurances.
They've decided that they wanna save money and
cost cut wherever they can, and they've learned
that hospitals
are very expensive for the same procedures that
can be done in an ASC.
I would say COVID was a huge driver
of that. It made it known, especially the
Hospitals Without Walls program,
which ended in 2023.
That was a huge driver for the ASC
market. And now patients are aware
ASC is actually an option.
And second to that, patients paying out of
pocket. Right? Deductibles are getting higher. Cost of
insurance is higher. To get the same procedure
in an ASC
is cheaper for a patient than it is
to do it in a hospital.
And then availability.
Think about how long it takes for you
to get pain relief or a spine surgery
in a hospital setting. You know, they prioritize
most critical to least critical. And so if
you're in that least critical end, even though
to you, it is very critical,
the system is not designed that way. So
you might wait one to two months, maybe
even upwards of four months depending on how
impacted your city or state is.
And if you go to an ASC, you
could be seen in one to two weeks
and no more than a month. Right? So
you can get relief really quickly.
Private equity has caught on to this, and
they've decided that they're gonna drop a lot
of money
into,
growing the ASC market. So that is why.
Absolutely.
And from AI and robotic surgeries to advanced
EHR systems,
technology remains both a make or break factor
and a critical driver of ASC operations at
scale.
So how do you see deeper tech integration
shaping the way ASCs deliver care and manage
their business over the next few years?
Tech integration,
any tech
is going to change an ASC.
Many ASCs are behind the curve when it
comes to digital technology.
A lot of them are on paper still
trying to figure out how to digitize with
such an ever changing team.
Unlike in a clinic setting where everything is
very stable, the staff and an ASC constantly
turn over. You're using per diems. You're using,
you know, temp agencies,
things that do not make it as easy
to do digital charting.
ASCs that have figured out how to master
that will continue to do better,
and outperform the ones that haven't.
And follow-up. Is there one specific technology or
innovation that stands out to you as especially
transformative?
I would say digitizing
your EHR. Even if
your notes are paper, but you upload into
a system to track, that is the only
way you're going to know your true return
on investment
and how much your ASE is actually performing
and where those gaps are. If you're doing
paper and you're uploading into an EHR, it
will help you. But if you actually chart
in the EHR, it's golden. So
digital EHR for sure.
And with 60% of health systems considering ASC
joint ventures and many ASCs already partnering with
systems in their communities, what opportunities do you
see for collaboration, whether with other providers or
vendors, to strengthen patient care and operational efficiency?
I think that's a tough question because
sometimes when you're doing a partnership or joint
venture, your goal and their goal do not
align. So first and foremost, you wanna focus
on making sure your internal goals all align,
and then the external goals of this joint
partnership align.
You know, some of these private equity companies
want to purchase an ASC, but have no
way to get patients through the door. And
that doesn't help the ASC, or they wanna
focus on cost saving versus quality of care.
So really making sure that any partnership that's
going to happen, you evaluate your organizational goals
first.
But there are situations where it matters. And
Yeah. Even if you want to strengthen that
care
or operational efficiency,
you may wanna retire.
And the goals might not align, but your
retirement goal supersedes
the
issue of, you know, patient care efficiency.
So
Absolutely. Well, Aziza, thanks so much for joining
me today. Is there anything we didn't touch
on or any final thoughts you'd like to
share? No. I think, really, first and foremost,
as I said,
goals first.
What is it that you're trying to achieve
with your ASC?
And continue to try to be private practice
if you can,
and get creative. That that's the way to
do this. Creativity is key.
Wonderful. Well, thanks so much for being here.
Again, we are recording live at the thirty
first annual Becker's
business and operations
of ASCs.
Thank you.