Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Leading Spine Care Through Innovation While Keeping Patients First with Dr. Ben Burch

Transcript

Leading Spine Care Through Innovation While Keeping Patients First with Dr. Ben Burch · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - The playbook for running a successful ASC in
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  - 2026
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  - looks almost nothing like it did a few
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  - years ago.
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  - And the one for 2029
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  - probably won't look like this one either.
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  - Case complexity is increasing. Payer models are shifting.
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  - Technology is creating new possibilities
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  - and new cost pressures at the same time.
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  - The spine and orthopedic leaders who are staying
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  - ahead aren't just keeping up with the changes.
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  - They are in rooms where the changes get
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  - talked about honestly. Becker's twenty third annual Spine
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  - Orthopedic and Pain honestly. Becker's twenty third annual
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  - Spine Orthopedic and Pain Management Driven ASC Conference
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  - is such a space.
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  - More than 1,000 attendees,
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  - 275
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  - plus physician and ASC speakers, three days of
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  - programming across the clinical,
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  - operational, and strategic
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  - with CME credits available.
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  - Join us June eleventh through the thirteenth. For
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  - the agenda and event details, visit Becker's Hospital
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  - Review and click on the events tab in
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  - the upper right.
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  - This is Gracelyn Keller with the Becker's Health
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  - Care Podcast, and we are recording live at
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  - the twenty third annual Spine Orthopedic and Pain
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  - Management Driven ASC Conference.
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  - I'm currently joined by Doctor. Ben Birch, who
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  - is a spine surgeon at Atlanta Spine Institute.
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  - So Doctor. Birch, thanks for being here. I'll
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  - have you start off by just briefly introducing
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  - yourself and sharing more about your role and
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  - the scope of your organization as well as
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  - what's currently commanding most of your attention.
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  - Yeah. So thanks for having me.
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  - So, again, my name is Ben Burch.
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  - I'm an orthopedic spine surgeon in private practice
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  - at Atlanta Spine Institute. We're in Atlanta, Georgia.
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  - We're a small group,
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  - right there in the big city. My partner
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  - and I,
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  - perform various types of surgery. I'm more on
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  - the minimal invasive side and,
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  - am also a specialist in endoscopic spine surgery.
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  - So very high volume, portion of my practice
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  - is endoscopic approach for the spine.
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  - And,
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  - because of that, it lends itself,
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  - many of my cases are outpatient.
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  - I still do a full range of spine
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  - surgery and reconstruction as well, but,
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  - large, footprint and portion of my practice being
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  - endoscopic and minimally invasive.
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  - Yeah.
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  - Wonderful. Well, thanks for being here.
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  - And let's start with, in a year marked
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  - by rapid change,
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  - what recent decision or pivot required the most
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  - leadership conviction from you, particularly when it came
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  - to aligning people resources or capabilities?
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  - Yeah. It's a great question. I mean,
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  - and as with any organization right now in
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  - health care, there's a lot of, factors changing
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  - in the, health care landscape,
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  - on the economic fronts and also on the,
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  - technology fronts.
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  - We just came from a talk, where I
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  - was part of a panel discussing the role
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  - of AI,
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  - in health care, and that's a very hot
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  - topic as well when it comes to making
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  - decisions on softwares,
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  - and other, implementation and things that we're working
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  - on in our practice.
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  - Recently, I would say, you know, we, recently
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  - switched an EMR and went with a different,
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  - company, upgrading, our,
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  - medical record system. And that was something that
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  - we had to have a lot of discussions
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  - and, meeting not only on the clinical side
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  - of everything, but on the back end and
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  - business aspect of the practice.
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  - So, making sure everyone has a seat at
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  - the table, having buy in on that type
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  - of,
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  - of a major change was,
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  - important for us. And so that was something
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  - that we, recently did at our practice.
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  - And follow-up to that, how did that type
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  - of situation
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  - challenge your assumptions, and what did it change
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  - about how you approach decision making talent or
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  - organizational readiness?
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  - Yeah. I mean, when you have an organization,
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  - whether it's, you know, five people, 500 people,
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  - 5,000 people, I think it's really important that
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  - you have the right decision makers in the
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  - room, but also that those decision makers have
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  - the right information.
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  - And that comes from making sure that everyone,
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  - whether literally or figuratively,
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  - has some sort of not only skin in
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  - the game, but a seat at the table.
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  - And so from our, you know, perspective, what
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  - we were doing at our practice and changing
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  - over to a new EMR, it was important
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  - for us to not only from the clinical
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  - side understand how the interface was gonna work
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  - for us on a daily basis when we're
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  - documenting,
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  - clinical notes and seeing patients. But how is
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  - that gonna impact our, staff, you know, the
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  - folks that aren't facing patients? So whether that
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  - be in our scheduling side for scheduling surgeries,
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  - and even scheduling our clinic visits as well
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  - as on the billing, side of our practice.
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  - So everyone needed to give their input to
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  - us so that we can make sure that
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  - we were gonna go with the right product
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  - that was also gonna fit the best for
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  - all aspects of the organization. Because I think,
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  - you know, in an organization, again, no matter
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  - what size,
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  - the lowest common denominator being the least efficient
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  - portion of your practice is going to always
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  - dictate how things get done. And so that
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  - was something we did. We went around and
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  - made sure that everyone had a voice and
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  - some input into how we were gonna do
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  - this.
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  - And switching gears slightly, when you think about
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  - the forces reshaping health care right now, where
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  - do you believe leaders need to be more
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  - decisive, especially while balancing speed risk and having
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  - the right teams?
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  - Yeah. So,
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  - I think first and most importantly, patient care
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  - has to remain at the forefront. So right
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  - now, as I mentioned earlier with the health
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  - care landscape changing,
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  - you know, that doesn't just include health care
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  - economics. That also includes,
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  - the ability for us to deliver health care
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  - across organizations. So in private practice, of course,
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  - you know, we also go to other hospitals
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  - that are not necessarily part of our entity
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  - or organization,
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  - and then as well as ASCs.
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  - But the other aspect of that is as
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  - we are interacting with, changing technological aspect of
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  - the landscape,
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  - that we make sure that patient care remains
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  - the number one priority. And I think, you
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  - know, there's a tendency here,
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  - perhaps, again, back to the AI component of
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  - things that are developing. We need to be
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  - cautious that the AI component of whether we're
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  - using it for documentation,
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  - for scheduling, billing,
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  - that the AI is,
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  - making sure not to hallucinate, that the may
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  - the AI is not inventing things that don't
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  - exist, and that it's, reflecting
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  - real life facts. Because, you know, at the
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  - end of the day, any decision that we're
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  - making in health care is going to impact
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  - a patient. So there needs to be safeguards,
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  - checks and balances on that, and that's something
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  - we need to keep kind of in our
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  - minds as we go through all this change.
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  - As we wrap our conversation,
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  - uncertainty has become the norm. So what leadership
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  - habits or mindsets have been most critical in
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  - keeping your organization and your people moving forward?
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  - Yeah. Uncertainty, you know, I don't know if
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  - that is really
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  - unique to health care. I mean, I think,
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  - we could probably
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  - take lessons from other, sectors of the economy.
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  - But at least in our field, you know,
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  - I think from a leadership perspective and when
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  - it comes to leading teams and getting buy
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  - in from your team to make sure everyone's
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  - on the same page, it's important that we
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  - approach uncertainty,
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  - you know,
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  - cautiously. Right? We shouldn't always just rush into
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  - a decision. So,
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  - my advice and kind of what we do
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  - in our organization is if we're not certain
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  - about something, just take a step back, relax,
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  - take a deep breath, and sleep on it
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  - overnight, you know, and and have that discussion
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  - pick back up the next day or the
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  - next week.
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  - Very rarely do we need to make big
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  - major,
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  - organizational,
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  - changes overnight. Right? So, that would be my
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  - recommendation, and sometimes that uncertainty, I think, is
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  - a sign of growth. It's not always a
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  - bad thing. And so just take take your
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  - time, think about the facts, and, again, most
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  - importantly, keep patient care as the forefront of
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  - your organization. I think your organization will do
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  - very well.
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  - Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for joining
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  - me today on the Becker's Healthcare podcast, sharing
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  - these thoughts and insights. Again, we are recording
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  - live at the twenty third annual Spine Orthopedic
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  - and Pain Management Driven ASC Conference. Thanks for
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  - having me.