Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Geri Eaves, BSN, RN, CASC, CNOR CEO/Administrator, Bone and Joint Institute of Tennessee Surgery Center

Transcript

Geri Eaves, BSN, RN, CASC, CNOR CEO/Administrator, Bone and Joint Institute of Tennessee Surgery Center · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  forward slash beckerspodcast.
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  This is Gracelyn Keller at 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 Jerry Eaves, who is
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  the CEO and administrator of Bone and Joint
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  Institute of Tennessee Surgery Center. Jerry, thanks for
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  being here. To start us off, I'll have
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  you introduce yourself and tell us a little
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  bit more about your work in the ASC
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  space.
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  Absolutely. Thank you. And as you said, I
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  am Jeri Eaves. I'm the administrator and CEO
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  at the Bone and Joint Institute of Tennessee
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  and Franklin, Tennessee.
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  We are a six OR
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  surgery center. We do orthopedics and spine.
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  We opened right in the middle of COVID.
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  So, the facility opened five years ago in
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  '20 March 2020.
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  And I myself have been in health care
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  in the ambulatory setting over twenty years,
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  and I did start my career out as
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  a nurse.
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  But I love working on the administrative side
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  and working with operations,
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  and I look forward to our podcast.
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  Wonderful.
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  Well, let's start our conversation with the ASC
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  market because in The US, this is projected
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  to reach $60,800,000,000
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  by 2030,
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  and it continues to experience strong year over
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  year growth. So from your perspective, what are
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  the most significant trends in Market Forces driving
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  this expansion, and how should ASC leaders be
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  preparing today?
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  Absolutely. Great question. So one of the things
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  that we wanna see is large shifts in
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  cases to the ASC outpatient setting.
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  We're gonna see minimally invasive techniques that include
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  robotics
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  and AI. All of those are increasing.
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  This is gonna help us perform more complex
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  cases in the outpatient setting.
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  Cost and managed care contracts are, you know,
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  going to push more cases to the ASCs
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  along with patient performance.
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  Quality metrics are gonna be a huge thing
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  that we're going to focus on.
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  ASC leaders should prepare, you know, they should
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  look at their road map ahead
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  and look at your margins,
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  analyze your case mix, proper profitability
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  margins. Make sure you're looking at all of
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  that because it's going to be huge with
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  some of the the forces that we're dealing
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  with.
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  And from AI and robotic surgeries to advanced
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  EHR systems, technology remains both a make or
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  break factor and a critical driver of ASC
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  operations at 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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  Absolutely.
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  So technology is going to redefine what scalable
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  means when we talk about AI and robotic
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  surgeries. We used to just need case mix
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  and efficiency.
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  Now we need data integration,
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  automation,
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  and precision. So a lot of that is
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  just going to be key.
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  Data driven decision making is going to also
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  be one of those things that we're looking
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  at.
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  We're connecting clinical, financial, and operational data, which
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  allows us to have real time visibility in
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  the case cost, surgeon utilization,
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  and quality metrics. We're also able to forecast
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  cancellations,
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  optimize block scheduling,
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  flag high risk patients easier. There's so much
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  going into technology and how we drive our
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  business
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  going forward.
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  And follow-up to that, is there one specific
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  technology or innovation that you would pinpoint as
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  a standout,
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  to being
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  especially transformative?
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  I think robotics is going to be one
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  that I would say is key. Having a
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  personal experience with it myself,
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  it's it helps with recovery,
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  post op,
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  pain control. There's just so many things. It's
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  efficiency in the OR.
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  There's just so many things that I think
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  it's driving. So I'd say robotics.
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  100%.
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  And then with 60% of health systems considering
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  ASC joint ventures, and many ASCs already partnering
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  with systems in their communities, what opportunities do
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  you see for collaboration, whether with other providers
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  or vendors, to strengthen patient care and operational
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  efficiency?
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  So I really think collaborations where the ASCs
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  can can move the needle.
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  Joint ventures with health systems
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  are shifting
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  from ownership to true alignment.
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  We're seeing that that collaboration and that they're
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  working together more.
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  The shifting from ownership to true
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  relationships and alignment, working together to provide a
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  higher standard of care for all of our
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  patients is, truly important.
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  Partnerships with anesthesia groups and vendors can increase
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  supply chain efficiency,
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  keep cost down, and increase case throughput.
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  All of it is
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  things that we have to work together as
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  a team, and the team is not just
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  your immediate team. It's not just your managers
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  or your leaders. It's actually
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  the whole,
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  it's the whole system. It's it's your hospital
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  partner, your your vendors, your if you have
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  a management company, you have to work together
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  with all of these people.
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  Your contracted services, it's all key to to
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  making everything go well and the patient having
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  a great outcome.
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  And, Jeri, is there anything we didn't touch
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  on or any final thoughts you'd like to
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  share as we wrap up our conversation?
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  I do think that integration
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  is the new growth strategy,
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  technology data, and partnerships.
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  Efficiency is going to define our success. Partnerships
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  with everyone as I spoke about is going
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  to build stability,
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  shared resources, stronger community impact. And one of
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  the biggest things is leadership mindset matters. Leaders
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  have to think strategically,
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  invest intentionally, and stay agile as payer models
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  technology
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  and work realities involve. And we have to
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  be in all this together. So doing it
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  all together is going to be key.
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  Well, thank you so much for joining me
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  today on the Becker's Healthcare podcast and sharing
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  these thoughts and insights. Again, we are recording
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  live at the thirty first annual business and
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  operations of ASCs.