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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 Ala Abda Asayed, who
is the medical director at U Wisconsin.
So thank you so much for joining me
today.
Let's have you start off by sharing a
little bit more about yourself and your work
in the ASC space. Oh, thank you for
having me. I'm a pain physician and an
anesthesiologist at University of Wisconsin,
where I work in the inpatient sitting and
an ambulatory sitting,
clinic,
two surgical centers, and the care for patients
both on the hospital grounds and ambulatory,
surgical centers and also at clinic setting.
Wonderful.
And let's start by talking about the ASC
market. Because in The US, it's projected to
reach $60,800,000,000
by 2030,
and it continues to experience strong year over
year growth. So So from your perspective, what
are the most significant trends in market forces
driving this expansion, and how should ASC leaders
be preparing today?
It's a very good question. And I think
the expansion in ASCs, as you mentioned, is
inevitable. It's happening, and it's happening fast.
And there are many reasons because it's, it's
owned by,
smaller groups,
typically, so they have more control, more autonomy,
can control the finances, which, always you wanna
think of the ins and outs, which is
different than being in gigantic health care system,
which you probably have less control over those,
finances.
So I think it's a growing model. I
think it's a good model. And I think
when you develop those models, you always look
for efficiencies, which are good for patients as
well. Like, again, quick surgeries in and out,
you try not to keep them in the
hospital,
which is good not only financially, but also
for the health and wellness of patient just
to be home on the same day.
And from AI and robotic surgeries to advanced
EHR systems, technology remains both a major break
factor and a critical driver of ASC operations
at scale. So how do you see Zebra
Tech integration shaping the way ASCs deliver care
and manage their business over the next few
years? That's a very good question. And as
we speak here, in the conference about,
the different AI platforms,
AI will make things very smooth, very quick,
will,
help the shortage of staff that we are
encountering nowadays at all, grounds in the operating
room and outside the operating room,
which will allow for more efficiencies and not
counting on the, I would say, filling the
gaps in in a staff shortage.
So this integration is very helpful, and I
think will lead to more efficient health care
system and ASC operations.
And follow-up to that. Is there any specific
technology or innovation that stands out to you
as especially transformative in the space?
I would say it's hard to pick up
only one, but, the main one that we're
all excited about is use AI, for example,
for appeals because that's a very tedious process,
very lengthy,
and require a lot of labor work.
So AI in in appeals has been very
successful in reversing a lot of those appeals,
which again leads to our patient be able
to get the care they, deserve, but using
it in scribing, use it in encoding.
I think these are very good steps that
not only will make it efficient, but will
make it maybe more accurate,
and then will reduce the back and forth
with insurance and, will reduce errors in coding,
and can provide the more of
a safety quality check for everybody using those
technologies.
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 providers or vendors
to strengthen patient care and operational efficiency?
ASCs became, more of, like, a big ship
that require multiple,
like, parties to be involved. So those collaborations
are very good because,
you know, the joint ventures allow for
a stronger foundation because everybody will have skin
in the game. Everybody will work on success,
of the ASC rather than just being owned
by individual or a small group.
So those,
I would say, venture,
joints,
will lead to just
better patient care, more patient volumes, stronger financial.
And I'll keep talking about the financial strengths
because it's very important to maintain any enterprise.
So I think this is gonna just make
it a lot stronger and will attract more
patient to this model.
Well, thanks so much for joining me today
on the Becker's Healthcare Podcast a lot. Is
there anything else we didn't touch on or
any final thoughts you'd like to share?
No. Thank you. And, I appreciate the opportunity
always to be here because,
I always
enjoy talking about AI, which is a future
of health care.
And,
seeing always, the this progression in the conference
and the focus in AI is very intriguing.
So thank you. Wonderful. Well, again, we are
recording live at the thirty first annual business
and operations of ASCs.
Thank you.