Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Dr. Alaa Abd-Elsayed, Medical Director, UW Health Pain Services

Transcript

Dr. Alaa Abd-Elsayed, Medical Director, UW Health Pain Services · 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 beckerspodcast.
• 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.
• 0:42
  I'm currently joined by Ala Abda Asayed, who
• 0:45
  is the medical director at U Wisconsin.
• 0:48
  So thank you so much for joining me
• 0:50
  today.
• 0:51
  Let's have you start off by sharing a
• 0:53
  little bit more about yourself and your work
• 0:54
  in the ASC space. Oh, thank you for
• 0:56
  having me. I'm a pain physician and an
• 0:58
  anesthesiologist at University of Wisconsin,
• 1:01
  where I work in the inpatient sitting and
• 1:03
  an ambulatory sitting,
• 1:05
  clinic,
• 1:06
  two surgical centers, and the care for patients
• 1:09
  both on the hospital grounds and ambulatory,
• 1:12
  surgical centers and also at clinic setting.
• 1:15
  Wonderful.
• 1:16
  And let's start by talking about the ASC
• 1:19
  market. Because in The US, it's projected to
• 1:21
  reach $60,800,000,000
• 1:23
  by 2030,
• 1:24
  and it continues to experience strong year over
• 1:26
  year growth. So So from your perspective, what
• 1:28
  are the most significant trends in market forces
• 1:30
  driving this expansion, and how should ASC leaders
• 1:33
  be preparing today?
• 1:34
  It's a very good question. And I think
• 1:36
  the expansion in ASCs, as you mentioned, is
• 1:38
  inevitable. It's happening, and it's happening fast.
• 1:41
  And there are many reasons because it's, it's
• 1:43
  owned by,
• 1:45
  smaller groups,
• 1:46
  typically, so they have more control, more autonomy,
• 1:50
  can control the finances, which, always you wanna
• 1:53
  think of the ins and outs, which is
• 1:55
  different than being in gigantic health care system,
• 1:57
  which you probably have less control over those,
• 2:01
  finances.
• 2:02
  So I think it's a growing model. I
• 2:04
  think it's a good model. And I think
• 2:06
  when you develop those models, you always look
• 2:07
  for efficiencies, which are good for patients as
• 2:09
  well. Like, again, quick surgeries in and out,
• 2:11
  you try not to keep them in the
• 2:12
  hospital,
• 2:13
  which is good not only financially, but also
• 2:15
  for the health and wellness of patient just
• 2:18
  to be home on the same day.
• 2:20
  And from AI and robotic surgeries to advanced
• 2:22
  EHR systems, technology remains both a major break
• 2:25
  factor and a critical driver of ASC operations
• 2:27
  at scale. So how do you see Zebra
• 2:29
  Tech integration shaping the way ASCs deliver care
• 2:31
  and manage their business over the next few
• 2:34
  years? That's a very good question. And as
• 2:35
  we speak here, in the conference about,
• 2:38
  the different AI platforms,
• 2:40
  AI will make things very smooth, very quick,
• 2:43
  will,
• 2:45
  help the shortage of staff that we are
• 2:47
  encountering nowadays at all, grounds in the operating
• 2:49
  room and outside the operating room,
• 2:51
  which will allow for more efficiencies and not
• 2:54
  counting on the, I would say, filling the
• 2:57
  gaps in in a staff shortage.
• 2:59
  So this integration is very helpful, and I
• 3:01
  think will lead to more efficient health care
• 3:03
  system and ASC operations.
• 3:06
  And follow-up to that. Is there any specific
• 3:09
  technology or innovation that stands out to you
• 3:11
  as especially transformative in the space?
• 3:14
  I would say it's hard to pick up
• 3:15
  only one, but, the main one that we're
• 3:17
  all excited about is use AI, for example,
• 3:19
  for appeals because that's a very tedious process,
• 3:21
  very lengthy,
• 3:23
  and require a lot of labor work.
• 3:25
  So AI in in appeals has been very
• 3:28
  successful in reversing a lot of those appeals,
• 3:29
  which again leads to our patient be able
• 3:32
  to get the care they, deserve, but using
• 3:34
  it in scribing, use it in encoding.
• 3:37
  I think these are very good steps that
• 3:39
  not only will make it efficient, but will
• 3:40
  make it maybe more accurate,
• 3:43
  and then will reduce the back and forth
• 3:45
  with insurance and, will reduce errors in coding,
• 3:49
  and can provide the more of
• 3:51
  a safety quality check for everybody using those
• 3:54
  technologies.
• 3:55
  And with 60% of health systems considering ASC
• 3:58
  joint ventures and many ASCs already partnering with
• 4:01
  systems in their communities, what opportunities do you
• 4:03
  see for collaboration whether with providers or vendors
• 4:06
  to strengthen patient care and operational efficiency?
• 4:09
  ASCs became, more of, like, a big ship
• 4:12
  that require multiple,
• 4:15
  like, parties to be involved. So those collaborations
• 4:17
  are very good because,
• 4:20
  you know, the joint ventures allow for
• 4:23
  a stronger foundation because everybody will have skin
• 4:26
  in the game. Everybody will work on success,
• 4:28
  of the ASC rather than just being owned
• 4:31
  by individual or a small group.
• 4:34
  So those,
• 4:36
  I would say, venture,
• 4:37
  joints,
• 4:39
  will lead to just
• 4:41
  better patient care, more patient volumes, stronger financial.
• 4:44
  And I'll keep talking about the financial strengths
• 4:46
  because it's very important to maintain any enterprise.
• 4:50
  So I think this is gonna just make
• 4:51
  it a lot stronger and will attract more
• 4:53
  patient to this model.
• 4:55
  Well, thanks so much for joining me today
• 4:57
  on the Becker's Healthcare Podcast a lot. Is
• 4:59
  there anything else we didn't touch on or
• 5:01
  any final thoughts you'd like to share?
• 5:04
  No. Thank you. And, I appreciate the opportunity
• 5:06
  always to be here because,
• 5:08
  I always
• 5:09
  enjoy talking about AI, which is a future
• 5:11
  of health care.
• 5:12
  And,
• 5:14
  seeing always, the this progression in the conference
• 5:17
  and the focus in AI is very intriguing.
• 5:18
  So thank you. Wonderful. Well, again, we are
• 5:21
  recording live at the thirty first annual business
• 5:23
  and operations of ASCs.
• 5:25
  Thank you.