Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Grant Luke, ASC Ambassador and Consultant in Supply Chain and Healthcare Technology

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Grant Luke, ASC Ambassador and Consultant in Supply Chain and Healthcare Technology · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  This is Scott Becker with the Becker's Healthcare
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  Podcast.
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  I'm thrilled today to be joined by a
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  brilliant leader in health care and surgery center
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  supply chain.
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  We're joined today by Grant Luke.
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  Grant, could you take a moment and introduce
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  yourself and tell us a little bit about
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  what you do?
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  Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you, Scott.
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  So, yeah, Grant Luke based down here in
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  Dallas, Texas,
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  but been around
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  health care for a while, been with, ambulatory
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  surgery centers specifically for last probably nine or
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  so years,
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  and have worked for companies like HST Pathways,
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  did project management for SCA,
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  director of ASC applications for USPI,
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  and now currently,
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  doing startup work where I'm consulting with startups,
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  and working with, right now a company called
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  CapExpert
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  that is seeking to,
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  really do more of the blocking and tackling
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  of asset management across, the ASC world as
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  well as, outpatient imaging. Just trying to make
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  sense of, a really disjointed approach from what
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  we've seen of of asset management. So currently
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  working with CapExpert,
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  a lot in the ASC space and, also
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  outpatient radiology.
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  Thanks. And what are some of the trends
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  you're watching in the surgery center space now?
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  What sort of top of mind? What trends
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  are you watching?
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  Yeah. There's probably three different things that I'm
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  looking at.
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  One is we're seeing higher acuity cases being
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  transferred from the hospital to the ASC.
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  And with that transfer of these higher acuity
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  cases, it it's not just the cases, but
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  it's everything else attached to it. Right? It's
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  the the complex HVAC. It's the sterile processing
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  capacity. It's,
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  it's the equipment itself.
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  And so we're seeing
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  this migration of these procedures. It really requires
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  ASCs to really develop a more sophisticated asset
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  life cycle management capability
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  so they can actually manage these assets, so
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  that they can bring in these surgeries
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  and do so effectively.
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  The other thing I'm looking at, is just
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  really just how much waste there still is,
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  in the ASC world. You know, ASCs, you
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  know, comparatively,
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  to to hospitals are still I still think
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  much more efficient.
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  But we're seeing within ASC space
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  a trend of
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  hyper optimization,
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  if we will. How can we dig into
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  every single
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  bit of workflow,
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  and really optimize what we're looking at? So
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  we're talking about things like, you know, preference
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  card variance,
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  inventory obsolescence,
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  you know, specifically with CapExpert,
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  how much reactive capital procurement
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  is is is a tremendous waste when you're
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  having to
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  react to capital equipment going down that's directly
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  responsible for,
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  case volume, and how that just is a
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  tremendous
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  hit on any type of P and L.
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  So
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  the the waste is still there within ASC
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  space, whether it's supply chain,
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  EHR,
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  practice management revenue cycle.
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  Where there's waste, I think there's also tremendous
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  opportunity.
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  The last thing that we're looking at is,
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  from a capital asset perspective
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  is really a capital
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  really a portfolio optimization.
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  You know, we're seeing, you know, ASC is
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  transitioning
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  from kind of a single item budget review
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  to more of a true
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  what I call systems thinking,
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  capital portfolio optimization approach. You know? So instead
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  of asking,
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  hey. Should we buy a new laser or
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  c arm? It's, hey. What combination
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  of infrastructure upgrades, equipment purchases,
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  facility repairs.
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  What what leads to the maximum return on
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  capital
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  and the maximum return on clinical benefit and
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  surgical outcomes?
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  And so between those three, the the the
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  shift of the higher acuity, the ASCs,
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  the still,
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  you know, hidden waste within the ASC space,
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  and then the capital optimization are are the
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  three biggest things I'm looking at.
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  Thank you. And talk about as you worked
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  towards 2026,
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  it's hard to believe we're almost getting there.
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  What are you most focused on? It yeah.
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  It really is. What are you most focused
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  on and excited about?
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  Yeah. So I I think with CapExpert,
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  you're really seeing the ability
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  to quantify the true cost of ownership
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  of
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  your most important asset, your clinical equipment.
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  And so you're able to not just look
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  at the sticker price or maintenance contract,
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  but you can now calculate what what we
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  call the total economic impact of every major,
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  asset.
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  And so I think being able to take
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  that comprehensive approach as you expand
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  not just one ASC, not just two, but
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  within, you know, several ASCs or ASC management
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  companies, you can now, again, go from that.
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  You know, I'll borrow from, you know, my
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  friend Preston Alexander who's well known.
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  You you go from
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  a,
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  firefighting mentality to a systems mentality
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  of now being able to use that data
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  to your advantage.
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  So that's one thing I'm really excited about
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  is being able to really quantify that that
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  total economic impact of assets.
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  I think the other thing that we're seeing
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  is we've seen the rise of AI tools
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  like ChatGPT
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  and Gemini and Copilot,
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  and now we can start doing that with
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  your assets. So CapExpert is becoming
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  CHAT GPT for medical assets and service contracts
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  where soon you'll be able to prompt just
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  like you would with Gemini or CHAT GPT
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  and be able to ask questions and have
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  your own data within your
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  medical equipment and service contracts respond and be
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  able to highlight where there's
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  ability to save, where there's ability to consolidate.
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  So
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  that that leverage of of becoming a tool
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  that people are used to, they they know
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  how to use it. It's much more intuitive.
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  That's very exciting.
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  And I think for us this year,
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  we got to see
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  an incredible amount of customer success when they
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  leveraged us across their entire platform of about
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  14 different locations. We saw, I think, a
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  26 x return on investment,
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  with them either through our automated procurement tools,
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  our marketplace for reallocation or selling surplus,
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  our equipment planning for de novo facilities,
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  and then our consolidation of service contracts was
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  really able to help, again, go back to
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  the blocking and tackling of eliminating waste.
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  So those are the things I was really
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  excited about for this year.
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  Thank you. And and and and and take
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  a second. You've had this great career. Well,
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  first, I'm gonna ask you. You're in Dallas.
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  Are you a Cowboys fan?
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  Have you watched the Jerry Jones special about
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  the Cowboys that was on you know, I
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  think it was either Netflix or HBO. I
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  forget which one it was. But it was
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  fantastic television with Michael Irvin and Emmitt Smith
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  and more. Are you a Cowboys fan? It's
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  like, I guess, the first next question. So,
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  unfortunately, I am not a Cowboys fan, but,
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  we do have Cowboys watchers in the house.
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  So, Scott, I've got a wife who's also
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  a nurse at a surgery center, so I
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  live and breathe all the problems every day.
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  She is a native Texan,
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  but she we're we're more to cheerleaders around
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  here. I've got,
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  three girls and one on the way as
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  well. So we we see the Dallas cheerleaders
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  documentary, but I'm definitely gonna have to log
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  that into,
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  my next watch for sure. It is fantastic.
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  Now, Grant, I would feel uncomfortable
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  watching the special on the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders,
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  so I can't watch that. I don't even
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  know what that's about. No. I'm just kidding.
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  The, you know, so talk a little bit
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  about
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  what advice would you get? Because so congratulations
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  on three daughters and one on the way.
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  That's fantastic.
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  That's as good as it gets. Literally Absolutely.
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  Nothing better. That just is so nice. So
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  nice. Yeah.
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  Talk for a second about sort of,
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  as you move into this,
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  next year, what advice would you give to
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  emerging leaders? You know, what do you tell
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  an emerging leader and and so forth?
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  Yeah. So I I would actually approach it
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  from three different aspects.
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  One, I'll give you something from CapExpert related,
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  so we'll stay focused on CapExpert per second.
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  The second one being if you're just an
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  ASCs in general.
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  And then the third is what I would
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  just call life advice.
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  So the first one per cap expert,
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  when you look at your p and l,
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  you're looking at a lagging indicator.
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  We really see that your asset health could
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  and should be a leading indicator.
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  So if you think about, you know, from
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  your asset perspective, you know, the moment you
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  have a critical piece of equipment
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  that's getting, you know, close to the end
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  end of life or as many years beyond
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  useful life, that is a direct
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  measurable threat
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  to your future revenue
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  and your risk profile.
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  And so we think people should be leading
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  those p and l discussions with an asset
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  management data approach.
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  So if you're a leader out there,
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  you can look at your medical assets, and
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  that can literally be a more accurate indicator,
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  than even your p and l.
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  From an ASC perspective,
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  I think ASC leaders, like, you have to
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  become
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  your chief translation officer.
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  You have to be under be able to
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  understand how to speak clinician, how to speak
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  finance,
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  how to speak,
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  physician owners, your board of directors,
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  and vice versa, be able to go between
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  the two. And so I I think anything
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  that you can do
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  from a translation perspective, whether it that'd be
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  go to a Becker's ASC conference, which is
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  one of the best in the entire world.
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  Shameless plug
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  there. God bless you, Greg. Could you just
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  repeat that last part very quickly? No. I'm
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  just kidding. That's fantastic. Thank you. Yeah. So
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  so becoming a so be but but being
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  around people at these conferences to help you
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  understand
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  how to translate finance into clinician,
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  how to do clinician to finance, how to
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  speak to physician owners. So that ability to
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  be a chief translation
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  officer is just so critically important
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  as a leader, within the ASC space. And
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  then lastly, from a life perspective,
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  I think something that people don't realize what
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  they're looking for is peace.
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  I know that's kind of a meta approach
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  to this conversation, but,
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  I think there are there are many ways
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  and many things that you can do in
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  your own life
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  and
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  working with others and and living life with,
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  you know, others, you know, whether it be
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  family or,
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  in the workplace
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  that can give you peace. And I think
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  too many people
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  pursue things that think are gonna give them
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  peace and and and that doesn't. And I
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  think that results in a lot of either
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  bad decisions or a lot of heartache,
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  across the board. But if you can find
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  a way,
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  to
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  to set up for yourself and and then
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  be at peace, whether it be at work,
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  or your personal life,
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  that to me is the end all be
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  all. So if as you're out there being
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  a leader,
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  make decisions for yourself, make decisions for people
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  that you report to that are following your
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  leadership to to provide that piece.
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  Grant, I can't tell you how much I
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  appreciate you taking the time to visit with
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  us today on the Becker's Healthcare podcast. I've
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  watched your career evolve over the years. I
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  can't tell you how impressed I am with
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  what you're doing. Congratulations on the fourth daughter
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  on the way. Nothing better than that, and
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  that's more important than any of this. Thank
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  you so much for joining us today on
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  the Becker's Healthcare Podcast.
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  Thank you so much, Scott. Thank you for
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  having me.