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forward slash beckerspodcast.

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This is Gracelyn Keller with the Becker's Healthcare

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Podcast, and we are recording live at the

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thirty first annual business and operations of ASCs.

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I'm currently joined by Helen Lowenworth, who is

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the administrator of Eastside Endoscopy. So, Helen, thanks

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for being here. Let's kick us off by

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having you share a little bit more about

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yourself and your work in health care. Okay.

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Well, I've been in health care for a

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very long time. Mostly private practice

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and most recently in an ASC.

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For the past almost fourteen years, I've been

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the administrator at e in Eastside Endoscopy.

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We are a,

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currently five room. We started as as four

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room,

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single specialty,

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ASC.

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We do about 12,000

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procedures a year. We call ourselves joint venture.

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We have, ownership from physicians,

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hospital partner, and management company.

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Have about 40 employees,

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and we're in the Gramercy Park section of

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New York. Awesome.

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Well, thanks for being here. And let's start

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our conversation talking about the ASC market. In

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The US, this is projected to reach $60,800,000,000

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by 2030, and it continues to experience strong

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year over year growth.

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So from your perspective, what are the most

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significant trends in market forces driving this expansion,

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and how should ASC leaders be preparing today?

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Well, I think

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the most important thing we're gonna see over

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the next few years

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is the transgression

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of

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procedures

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out of the hospital into the ASC markets.

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Depending on where you are in the country,

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it's very different in New York. We're, famously

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a certificate of need state, so we don't

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have that many well, you know, relative to

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other states, we have about a 140

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ASCs

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for 18,000,000

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people,

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not not nearly enough.

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And and so we're we're seeing,

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hospital more joint ventures to to move things

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out out of the hospitals. They're be they

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they get it. They're beginning to get what

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we do well,

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why it's beneficial. The patients love it.

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We're also working to get cardiac procedures approved

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in New York.

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Some states already have it. I think there's

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23

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states in the country

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that have cardiac procedures in in ASCs.

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New York, it's it needs to go through

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a regulatory,

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review. We're currently working very hard to get

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that done.

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The the whole point is to increase access

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to patients. The access to care is the

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real problem, and and the ASCs are a

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big, big part of that future.

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Absolutely.

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And from AI and robotic surgeries to advanced

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EHR systems,

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technology remains both a make or break factor

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and a critical driver of ASC operations at

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scale.

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So how do you see deeper tech integration

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shaping the way ASCs deliver care and manage

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their business over the next few years?

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Yeah. It it's,

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more than a buzzword

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these days,

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AI.

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I think every

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every center,

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almost every business is is being

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inundated with new programs.

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The big secret is what is really AI

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and how can we apply it in our

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our business.

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In the GI

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market, we have models that help increase abnormal

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detection rates as the doctors are doing procedures.

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We we employ that in our center and

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many many other places do.

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We're seeing it come in with documentation procedure

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documentation,

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more than just a voice recognition, but but

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helping the the reports be more consistent

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and then document

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going further with the coding,

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it's much more efficient,

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finishing the notes.

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Operations, we're seeing a lot in in terms

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of operations, some of our scheduling modules, how

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to

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apply some artificial intelligence

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to those those

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areas to improve

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efficiency

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and scheduling procedures in the right order,

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reaching out to patients in advance,

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communication. There's a lot more,

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sending bot messages, things like that. You know?

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So it and and it's helping. It's helping

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in renewables.

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So and that's just I know more in

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the GI space. I know in some of

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the other multispecialty

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areas,

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there's all sorts of the the machines, the

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robotics, the which I can't speak to, but

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it's out there, and it's improving the efficiency

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of our operations.

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Absolutely.

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And with 60% of health systems considering ASC

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joint ventures and many ASCs already partnering with

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systems in their communities,

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what opportunities do you see for collaboration, whether

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with other providers or vendors, to strengthen patient

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care and operational efficiency? I I think,

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well, I won't go on about the hospitals.

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They're they're already, you know,

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starting ABCs. They've been involved from the very

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beginning.

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But the, vendors are becoming more and more

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important,

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especially for new cent new centers that open

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up. They they are coming in as investors.

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The striker comes to mind. They will, finance

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your operations.

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They manage the supply chain, which is a

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big issue for for many centers. So I

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I'd say over the next couple of years,

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the vendor involvement

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is gonna be key.

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Well, thank you, Helen, so much for joining

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me today.

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Is there anything else we didn't touch on

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or final thoughts you'd like to share on

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the show? Well, in another life, I I

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I'm part of the New York State Association

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of Ambulatory

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Surgery Centers,

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and we're seeing

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a big,

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becoming more and more involved

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with the payers and then the, changes in

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the Medicaid

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programs.

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And and I think

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the Medicaid programs and the legislators are beginning

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to realize

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the value

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of ASCs,

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the benefits of moving the cases from the

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higher cost

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hospital settings into ambulatory care

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and

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the patient satisfaction

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levels. So,

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that's something I, we talk about it a

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lot, and I wanna keep the focus on

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that because that is really important.

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Absolutely. Well, Helen, thanks so much for being

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here. Again, we are recording live at the

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thirty first annual Becker's

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business and operations of ASCs.