Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Andrew Lovewell, CEO, Columbia Orthopaedic Group

Transcript

Andrew Lovewell, CEO, Columbia Orthopaedic Group · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  Looking for a solution that helps alleviate administrative
• 0:03
  tasks for your staff and also helps your
• 0:05
  patients cover their out of pocket health care
• 0:07
  expenses?
• 0:08
  Find what you're looking for from CareCredit because
• 0:11
  CareCredit is a credit card and more. It's
• 0:13
  a helping hand for staff and a flexible
• 0:16
  payment solution for patients. For over thirty years,
• 0:19
  CareCredit, a Synchrony solution, has offered patients a
• 0:22
  credit card with promotional financing options to get
• 0:25
  the care they want while helping staff do
• 0:27
  what they do best, provide care. To learn
• 0:30
  more, visit carecredit.com
• 0:32
  forward slash beckers podcast.
• 0:35
  This is Gracelyn Keller with the Becker's Healthcare
• 0:37
  Podcast, and we are recording live at the
• 0:39
  thirty first annual business and operations of ASCs.
• 0:43
  I'm currently joined by Andrew Lovewell, who is
• 0:45
  the CEO at Columbia Orthopedic Group. So, Andrew,
• 0:48
  thanks for being here. To kick us off,
• 0:49
  can you please share a little bit about
• 0:50
  yourself and your work in the ASC space?
• 0:53
  Yeah. My name is Andrew Lovewell. I'm the
• 0:55
  CEO of Columbia Orthopedic Group. We are a
• 0:58
  large private practice, MSK Ortho Group in the
• 1:01
  state of Missouri.
• 1:02
  Own a very large,
• 1:04
  super successful ASC,
• 1:06
  imaging center, pharmacy,
• 1:08
  DME,
• 1:09
  real estate investment,
• 1:11
  PBM, telehealth company, kind of everything we have
• 1:14
  that can touch the patient and increase our
• 1:16
  value that we deliver to our patients. So
• 1:18
  I've been in the health care space
• 1:20
  about sixteen years in academics,
• 1:24
  also ASC management, now, the private practice space.
• 1:27
  So excited for our discussion today. Wonderful.
• 1:30
  And let's start off talking about the ASC
• 1:32
  market. In The US, this is projected to
• 1:34
  reach $60,800,000,000
• 1:36
  by 2030
• 1:37
  and continues to experience strong year over year
• 1:39
  growth. So from your perspective, what are the
• 1:41
  most significant trends and market forces driving this
• 1:44
  expansion and how should ASC leaders be preparing
• 1:46
  today?
• 1:47
  Yeah. I think that, one of the big
• 1:49
  things that's driving that growth is the migration
• 1:53
  of cases from the hospital to the ASC
• 1:55
  space. You know, we see this happening a
• 1:57
  lot in the ortho and MSK space with
• 1:59
  spine and total joints.
• 2:01
  See this happening in the cardiology space as
• 2:03
  well.
• 2:04
  I think also one of the big things
• 2:05
  that's kinda making that
• 2:07
  transition possible
• 2:09
  is in America, you know, a lot of
• 2:10
  there's a lot of self funded health plans,
• 2:12
  you know, employer sponsored health care. So employers
• 2:15
  are trying to save cost on what they're
• 2:17
  providing for their employees,
• 2:19
  and they've shifted a lot of their demand
• 2:22
  towards ASC space. You saw that happen with
• 2:24
  Walmart a few years ago with their center
• 2:25
  of excellent program,
• 2:27
  you know, debated on whether or not that
• 2:28
  was successful based on who they used. You're
• 2:31
  also seeing that happen with, you know, people
• 2:33
  picking GI type places that are in the
• 2:36
  ASC space over hospitals.
• 2:37
  I would see a lot more employers kinda
• 2:39
  make that demand
• 2:40
  on how cases get shifted to the ASC.
• 2:43
  You're also gonna see more employers offer free
• 2:46
  or reduced cost on their health plan to
• 2:48
  people who choose that route because it does
• 2:51
  provide a savings to the employer group when
• 2:53
  they're providing those benefits to the employees. So,
• 2:56
  overall, it's kinda
• 2:57
  mixes together to deliver a really perfect storm
• 2:59
  for ASCs to expand. You know, as an
• 2:59
  ASC, you gotta be ready for that by,
• 2:59
  you know, do you have all
• 3:00
  expand. You
• 3:02
  know, as an ASC, you gotta be ready
• 3:04
  for that by, you know, do you have
• 3:04
  all the technology in place? Do you have
• 3:06
  the staff in place? Or is your block
• 3:08
  schedule optimized where you can kind of produce
• 3:10
  at that level? So just getting all your
• 3:12
  ducks in a row, making sure you got
• 3:14
  the basics in place, you know, even before
• 3:16
  we start exploring the AI side of things.
• 3:18
  Like, let's just get the basics right so
• 3:20
  we can deliver and, you know, get those
• 3:21
  cases are gonna move over. So I would
• 3:24
  give that kinda nugget as, like, you know,
• 3:26
  just check all the boxes, be prepared for,
• 3:28
  you know, the migration and continued migration of
• 3:31
  cases coming.
• 3:32
  And from AI and robotic surgeries to advanced
• 3:35
  EHR systems, technology remains both make or break
• 3:38
  factor and a critical driver of ASC operations
• 3:40
  at scale.
• 3:41
  How do you see a deeper tech integration
• 3:43
  shaping the way ASCs deliver care and manage
• 3:45
  their business over the next few years?
• 3:47
  I think that's a great question. You know,
• 3:48
  I I would anticipate
• 3:50
  if if it's an ASC that hasn't invested
• 3:53
  in technology yet. Right? So somebody who doesn't
• 3:56
  have an EHR, doesn't have a inventory management
• 3:59
  system or some type of nature there, I
• 4:02
  would strategically look at that as an opportunity
• 4:04
  for your next horizon of strategic planning because
• 4:07
  that's gonna give you more data and information
• 4:10
  to make decisions. I think that it's going
• 4:12
  to provide you
• 4:13
  with the tools necessary to recruit more surgeons
• 4:16
  and also optimize your ASC better. I would
• 4:19
  also tell you one of the big drivers
• 4:21
  that we've used to,
• 4:23
  help us from a patient facing standpoint
• 4:26
  is using technology that automates a lot of
• 4:29
  our processes, whether that's reminding patients to stop
• 4:32
  taking a medication ahead of time, whether it's
• 4:34
  having people fill out their health history via
• 4:36
  a technological app so it integrates into our
• 4:39
  EHR and our ASC. You know, just using
• 4:42
  the tech to take away some of the
• 4:44
  busy work that your staff have to do
• 4:46
  today is gonna be huge because you're really
• 4:48
  gonna want your staff to do the high
• 4:49
  value or high
• 4:51
  yield tasks, not the repetitive things that are
• 4:54
  going to kinda get in the way of
• 4:56
  making sure you have all that information in
• 4:57
  place. So
• 4:58
  leveraging the simple stuff out there, there's tons
• 5:01
  of, you know, technology you can use. A
• 5:03
  couple EHR PMs is HST and SIS, both
• 5:07
  great products. You know, One Medical Passport has
• 5:10
  a really nice interface and tool that you
• 5:12
  can use. It's super slick.
• 5:15
  IOS envy, a hybrid. There's great inventory management
• 5:18
  systems today. Like, just explore these things, see
• 5:22
  how they fit into your ASC and deliver
• 5:24
  value for you.
• 5:26
  And then, you know, when we get into
• 5:27
  the AI space and robotics, like, let's let's
• 5:31
  tiptoe into that cautiously and make sure that
• 5:33
  it's gonna actually produce value before we explore,
• 5:36
  purchase, and, you know, taking on that.
• 5:39
  And follow-up to that, is there one specific
• 5:41
  technology or innovation that stands out to you
• 5:43
  as especially transformative?
• 5:46
  I think it depends on what stage you're
• 5:47
  at. Right? So if you say I'm an
• 5:49
  ASC,
• 5:51
  and I don't have a practice management system
• 5:53
  with an integrated,
• 5:55
  inventory management platform, well, that's a really strategic
• 5:58
  thing you should do that would add value
• 6:01
  very quickly. You could get some case costing
• 6:03
  out of it. If you're an ASC that
• 6:05
  has, you know, an EHR and the PM
• 6:07
  and the inventory management system all integrated already,
• 6:10
  you know, maybe we should look at some
• 6:12
  kind of digital arrival and tracking system to
• 6:15
  make sure that all of our patients fill
• 6:17
  out their health histories and, you know, they're
• 6:19
  getting all the automated prompting on the medications
• 6:21
  and all those things ahead of time. You
• 6:23
  know, is there a patient tracking software we
• 6:25
  need to use, like, Ospitec in the ASC
• 6:28
  so we can track our patients and know
• 6:30
  actually how we perform on turnover times and
• 6:32
  how we perform on in the room time
• 6:34
  and those things. Like, just exploring where you're
• 6:36
  at in the process and then figuring out
• 6:38
  adjunctive technologies that support you
• 6:41
  is is really the key player. You know,
• 6:43
  if if you've got all those things done,
• 6:45
  yeah, let's look at some AI. You know,
• 6:46
  what what can we use? Is there an
• 6:48
  AI coding software?
• 6:49
  Is there an AI,
• 6:50
  pre cert software we could use? You know,
• 6:53
  we don't wanna also, like, over adopt point
• 6:56
  solutions. So making sure you partner
• 6:58
  with somebody who's a true partner, not a
• 7:00
  vendor, is is really the the use case
• 7:03
  you have to explore.
• 7:05
  Anybody can add point solutions, but you're gonna
• 7:07
  end up with point solution fatigue by just
• 7:09
  adding and adding and adding to it. So
• 7:12
  establishing
• 7:13
  what it is we're trying to solve for
• 7:14
  and who can solve for the most problems
• 7:16
  at one time is going to be really
• 7:18
  the key to success there.
• 7:20
  And with 60% of health systems considering ASC
• 7:24
  joint ventures and many ASCs already partnering with
• 7:26
  systems in their communities, what opportunities do you
• 7:29
  see for collaboration whether with other providers or
• 7:31
  vendors, to strengthen patient care and operational efficiency?
• 7:35
  I would say one of the big places
• 7:37
  that ASCs
• 7:39
  can partner is is really in their internal
• 7:42
  partners they already have. You know, if you're
• 7:44
  with a physician's group, how can you get
• 7:46
  more aligned with that physician's group? Are there
• 7:48
  things you can do there
• 7:49
  that demonstrate
• 7:50
  economies of scale, whether that's, you know, doing
• 7:53
  accounting or purchasing together, things like that? If
• 7:55
  you're partnering with a management company, what other
• 7:57
  offerings do they have that could come into
• 8:00
  your ASC to
• 8:01
  establish growth, whether that's physician recruitment funding or
• 8:04
  some other mechanism like that. I would also
• 8:07
  say if you're if you're partnering with a
• 8:08
  hospital system, you know, there there kind of
• 8:10
  is a, I would say, a competitive
• 8:13
  thing that happens there where the hospitals want
• 8:15
  the cases, you want the cases, you know,
• 8:17
  just establishing
• 8:18
  the ground rules and how we all work
• 8:20
  together to get cases is ideal.
• 8:23
  You know, I think that that's a very,
• 8:25
  very key thing when you're partnering in a
• 8:26
  JV like that.
• 8:28
  Outside of that, partnering with vendors slash partners
• 8:31
  is really important because there's a lot of
• 8:34
  cool new innovative technologies that we talked about
• 8:37
  that are out there that can help.
• 8:39
  But, you know, you don't wanna over partner
• 8:41
  because then you're just gonna be chasing contract
• 8:43
  management and other things like that, and then
• 8:45
  you're gonna find a partner for that. So
• 8:47
  how do you figure out what's key for
• 8:49
  you in kind of in inspecting or investigating
• 8:53
  the right partner at the right time
• 8:56
  is gonna be, very key.
• 8:59
  And is there anything we haven't touched on
• 9:01
  yet that you would like to share or
• 9:03
  any final thoughts as we wrap up this,
• 9:05
  podcast episode?
• 9:06
  Yeah. Sure. I think I think one of
• 9:08
  the final kinda takeaways I would give on
• 9:10
  the ASC side of things is,
• 9:13
  you know,
• 9:14
  understand that you have power and you have
• 9:18
  value that's very hard to match because
• 9:21
  what we can do in an ASC
• 9:24
  versus a hospital
• 9:26
  or a larger tertiary care center
• 9:29
  is so
• 9:31
  valuable.
• 9:32
  Employers want it. You know? So going out
• 9:34
  and providing that education to employers to make
• 9:38
  sure they're well aware of the things that
• 9:40
  you guys can provide is is key. You
• 9:42
  know, making sure you don't give that up
• 9:44
  to the payers, that that power and that
• 9:46
  value you have because the payers are gonna
• 9:48
  try to diminish what we do as an
• 9:50
  ASC. So,
• 9:51
  you know, bringing in the medical director for
• 9:53
  the, you know, Blue Cross plan in your
• 9:55
  state, you know, talking to UnitedHealthcare,
• 9:57
  trying trying to get more collaboration
• 10:00
  through the payers is gonna be a big
• 10:02
  deal and I think extremely important in your
• 10:04
  success.
• 10:05
  So just recognizing that what you do is
• 10:08
  extremely valuable. It's a huge part of our
• 10:11
  opportunity to bend the cost curve of health
• 10:13
  care just in general. So making sure you're
• 10:15
  informed, you know, you're reading Becker's, doing the
• 10:18
  things, you know, that continue to educate you
• 10:20
  as an ASC administrator
• 10:22
  or owner is very essential. So I would
• 10:25
  just encourage people, you know, to be informed,
• 10:28
  be on top of the information,
• 10:29
  and and know exactly
• 10:32
  what you can provide to the employer group,
• 10:33
  to the insurance, to all those, you know,
• 10:35
  stakeholders
• 10:36
  is gonna be a very big,
• 10:38
  thing to keep track of.
• 10:41
  Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for joining
• 10:42
  me today and sharing these thoughts and insights
• 10:44
  on the podcast. Again, we are recording live
• 10:46
  at the thirty first annual business and operations
• 10:49
  of ASCs. Thank you. Appreciate it.