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Advancing Rural Healthcare With AI and Integrative Care with Marc Augsburger · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

0:02
- There's a small circle of people who truly
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- understand what it takes to lead a health
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- system right now. The decisions are enormous.
0:08
- The variables are constantly shifting, and the stakes
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- of getting a call wrong don't stay contained.
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- That's not a complaint. It's a structural reality.
0:17
- And it's why the most effective c suite
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- leaders are deliberate about where they go to
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- pressure test their thinking.
0:22
- Becker's fourteenth annual CEO and CFO roundtable
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- brings together more than 1,500
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- executive level attendees
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- and nearly 400 speakers for four days built
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- around growth, financial sustainability,
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- workforce strategy, and the leadership questions that don't
0:38
- have easy answers.
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- Join us November second through the fifth in
0:41
- Chicago.
0:42
- For the agenda and event details,
0:45
- visit beckershospitalreview.com
0:47
- and click on the events tab in the
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- upper right.
0:50
- 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 your
0:57
- tremendous CEO.
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- We're joined today by the president and CEO
1:01
- of Edgerton Hospital and Health Services,
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- Mark Augsberger.
1:05
- And Mark's got this great background as both
1:08
- a a nurse and an MBA
1:10
- and just a fantastic career.
1:12
- Mark, can you take a moment and tell
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- us a little bit about
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- Edgerton Hospital and about yourself and your career?
1:19
- Yeah. Absolutely. Thanks, Scott. So glad to be
1:22
- here today.
1:24
- My my career has,
1:26
- expensed
1:27
- now over thirty eight years,
1:30
- as a registered nurse starting in
1:33
- Ohio.
1:34
- And,
1:36
- it's where I was raised and grew up,
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- began my nursing career,
1:40
- practiced for a number of years, actually, as,
1:43
- as an associate degree nurse.
1:45
- Got my bachelor's and then the MBA,
1:48
- as you mentioned,
1:50
- and
1:50
- have now been a hospital CEO for almost
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- seventeen years.
1:55
- I started my career in Northwest
1:58
- Iowa at Horn Memorial Hospital in Ida Grove,
2:01
- Iowa.
2:01
- I was there for about three and a
2:03
- half years and then,
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- moved to what was Cairo Community Hospital, later
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- became
2:10
- McLaren
2:11
- Region
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- Cairo Hospital
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- in Cairo, Michigan
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- over in the thumb.
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- And, now I've had,
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- the pleasure,
2:21
- being the president and CEO here at Edgerton
2:25
- Hospital and Health Service
2:26
- for the last five and a half years.
2:28
- So,
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- our hospital is an 18 bed critical access
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- hospital in South Central
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- Wisconsin. We're about 30 miles straight south of
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- Madison.
2:40
- We have a very thriving,
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- outpatient,
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- practice as well
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- as inpatient
2:49
- and swing beds. So we do
2:52
- a little of everything.
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- Not only do we have our regular hospital
2:56
- campus,
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- but we have,
2:58
- an urgent care type setting downtown
3:02
- Edgerton called QuickCare.
3:04
- We also have our finance department,
3:08
- pediatrics
3:09
- and
3:10
- behavioral health downtown Edgerton.
3:13
- About seven miles to our south, we have
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- a
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- double
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- family practice, nurse practitioner
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- practice in Milton, Wisconsin.
3:23
- And then finally, about, 20 miles,
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- due east of us in Whitewater, Wisconsin,
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- we have an extension
3:32
- of our pain and spine center,
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- and we also have
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- our seven day a week, a ten hour
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- a day
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- full time urgent care that also has,
3:45
- X-ray capability.
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- So lots of great things going on here.
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- I guess the last thing that I should
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- finish with, Scott, is that
3:53
- one of the premier,
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- sort of non health care, but tied in
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- kind of pieces, spectacles,
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- for the hospital is we have an absolutely
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- outstanding and beautiful three acre
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- healing garden
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- right behind the hospital that is
4:13
- well taken care of with an a very,
4:15
- very experienced
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- gardener.
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- And then right beside that is a 15
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- acre,
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- wooded area we sort of call our forest,
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- and it has four distinct
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- walk paths in it as well. So that's
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- just a little bit about Edgerton Hospital and
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- health services.
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- What a beautiful thing, and and what great
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- enthusiasm.
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- A couple different questions to start with.
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- First, when you look at the rest of
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- this year, what are you most focused on
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- and excited about? And is it called Edgerton
4:48
- versus Edgerton? Edgerton, am I pronouncing that correctly?
4:51
- Yeah. Edgerton. Yes. Edgerton. Fantastic. So what are
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- you most focused on and excited about for
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- the rest of this year and heading into
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- 2027?
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- And then where geographically
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- does Edgerton
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- where where is that in Wisconsin? Because we're
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- in Illinois,
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- often called by by Wisconsin people fibs, which
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- I think is a compliment, but we're in
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- Illinois.
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- But but tell us where Edgerton is in
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- Wisconsin.
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- Yeah. Absolutely. So I am very close to
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- the Illinois border,
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- about 30 miles,
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- north of the the Illinois border.
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- We are
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- 30 miles directly south of Madison.
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- So we are,
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- yeah, 30 miles south, and we're
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- about 12 miles
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- north of Janesville.
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- Fantastic. Fantastic. Okay. So we know where those
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- areas are. That's probably about ninety minutes from
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- where we reside currently.
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- Love it. Beautiful, beautiful area. Fantastic.
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- Not too far from Alpine Valley, Wilmot, those
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- areas too, and not too far from Lake
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- Geneva and and so forth. Got it. Okay.
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- Definitely. So so so talk to us a
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- little bit about
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- where are you most focused and excited,
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- going forward? And then where did you grow
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- up? Did you grow up in in Michigan,
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- Iowa, Wisconsin? Where are you from originally? Yeah.
6:12
- Well, you almost got it there. One of
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- the, Midwest states. I grew up in Northwest
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- Ohio
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- in a, little town of about 6,000
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- called Bluffton,
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- and that is located right on Interstate 75,
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- one hour south of Toledo.
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- So that's where I grew up.
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- Some, you know, really exciting things that I'm
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- looking at right now and and impactful
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- areas,
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- towards
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- going, going towards the end of the year,
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- you know, a number of things. But,
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- one of them that's affecting absolutely everyone,
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- is the evolution
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- and and use of AI.
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- I tell you what, you you can't get
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- an email today without
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- some kind of reference to AI. So whether
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- you're looking at your your billing or your
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- coding or, you know, meeting taking,
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- the way that you're practicing medicine,
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- AI is
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- absolutely
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- entering every discussion.
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- So, that that's certainly a trend that we're
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- looking at, we're working on. There's some pieces
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- of use,
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- but I know,
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- you know, as well as
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- positives,
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- there's also
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- some significant cautions out there too, you know,
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- about about you send,
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- what it might be able to,
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- do you know, not give you the exact
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- right information. So I guess, there's a lot
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- of,
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- brain that still has to be used to
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- make sure that what you're getting out of
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- AI is actually useful for you.
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- And and and take a second on
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- AI and where are you seeing the use
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- cases right now? Like, where are you actually
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- having impact currently?
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- And then maybe where do you see impact
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- over the next couple years?
8:15
- Yeah. The impact at our hospital right now
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- is is,
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- a smaller amount,
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- probably because of us being a, you know,
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- rural critical access hospital, but we're we're definitely
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- using it,
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- in in meeting instances.
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- So note taking,
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- probably though more on a larger note taking
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- area
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- is we have,
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- a number of physicians
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- and,
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- nurse practitioners
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- utilizing,
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- the different types
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- of,
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- AI for,
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- note taking or summarizing
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- visits
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- when they're in seeing patients. So
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- it's really helping to make, some of our
9:07
- providers,
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- work,
9:11
- you know,
9:12
- more quickly.
9:13
- They're really liking
9:16
- the data that's coming out of AI, and
9:19
- we use a number of them. But for
9:22
- instance,
9:23
- DAX Copilot
9:25
- is one of them that's being utilized. And,
9:29
- the, providers using,
9:31
- using that as one likes the way
9:34
- that it summarizes
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- the visit.
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- It hits,
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- you know, high notes of what the provider
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- has said and suggested.
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- It has patient interaction,
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- which I think, you know, patient interaction is
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- something that you didn't really see in notes
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- in the past. And and now, you know,
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- as patients can get into things, you know,
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- if you utilize
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- Epic,
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- maybe on MyChart,
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- as patients get in and take a look
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- at their visit,
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- they can actually recall the conversation
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- that they had
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- with the provider, and,
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- that's super important.
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- I guess the other place where we're starting
10:17
- to use it is in our revenue cycle
10:22
- slash coding area.
10:24
- And in those areas,
10:26
- you know, we're able to make sure
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- that,
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- we're we're using it as an adjunct,
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- not as a replacement
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- for staff.
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- And it's helping to make sure coding is
10:38
- as accurate as possible.
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- It's helping us to,
10:43
- capture
10:44
- codes,
10:46
- at a much,
10:48
- higher correct and success level,
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- which means that
10:52
- you were
10:54
- getting,
10:55
- payments from the insurance companies,
10:58
- quicker. Denials,
11:01
- have really gone down, and
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- that's super important for all of us. It
11:06
- doesn't matter the size of your organization
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- today.
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- You want,
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- a high percentage
11:13
- of first pass success rate,
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- and, we're seeing a really nice increase there.
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- That's just
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- absolutely fantastic.
11:22
- Tell us one more thing that you're real
11:24
- excited about moving into the next six months
11:25
- of the next year. Yeah. So,
11:28
- another piece is, we're really working on
11:33
- a proactive
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- lifestyle medicine,
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- and we're calling it our integrative health. So
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- we're looking
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- at the,
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- call it the
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- holistic,
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- the whole
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- body system
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- and,
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- what kind of,
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- integrative medicine that we can work with our
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- traditional
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- medicine that we're using,
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- along with, naturopathic
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- care,
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- chiropractic care, massage therapy,
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- you know, needling,
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- or,
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- salt therapy, red light therapy. We're we're in
12:14
- our planning phase right now to start early
12:17
- next year.
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- Our board of trustees is very excited
12:23
- about,
12:25
- the marriage of,
12:26
- integrative medicine
12:28
- into all of the care that we're already
12:31
- providing.
12:32
- And, Scott, I'd tell you, the other place
12:34
- that this is really hitting a home run
12:36
- with
12:37
- is,
12:38
- for
12:39
- now our second
12:41
- community,
12:43
- health needs assessment that's required of all,
12:46
- not for profits.
12:48
- Integrative
12:49
- type medicine
12:51
- has shown up in the
12:54
- top percentage
12:55
- of what our communities would like to see,
12:58
- and we're absolutely
13:00
- going to be able to
13:02
- roll out this home run
13:05
- and be able to provide to the residents
13:09
- in the communities that we serve exactly what
13:12
- they're looking for
13:14
- in the marriage, traditional and, maybe Eastern Madison.
13:19
- Just fantastic.
13:21
- And take a second, Mark. You've had this
13:23
- great leadership career.
13:26
- Take a moment on what advice would you
13:28
- give to other emerging leaders evolving leaders?
13:32
- Yeah. So I think there's, there's a number
13:34
- of things that are really important, and
13:38
- I I don't think you can emphasize
13:41
- quality and quality measures
13:44
- higher than
13:46
- probably the number one. There's a lot of
13:48
- things that we're all working on. There's a
13:50
- lot of things that we're all doing, but
13:53
- we're all there at the end of the
13:54
- day for one reason, and that's to take
13:57
- great care
13:59
- of the patients that we serve.
14:02
- And the way that you provide
14:05
- great care is providing
14:08
- high quality,
14:09
- meeting those quality measures,
14:12
- and
14:13
- really
14:14
- driving
14:14
- the success
14:16
- of patients being able to be,
14:19
- healthier for
14:21
- a much longer period of time.
14:24
- That's probably
14:25
- about, you know, one of the biggest ones
14:28
- there. But but but but I love that.
14:30
- Because when when I see leaders of systems
14:32
- and and I'm gonna come back to something
14:34
- about nurse leadership in a second. When I
14:36
- see some of the great leaders of our
14:37
- systems today in in in the country,
14:40
- Jenny Spieso always comes to mind, who's a
14:42
- nurse by background, who's CEO of UCLA Health,
14:46
- and constantly comes back to this focus on
14:48
- quality of care, customer delivery of care, making
14:52
- sure you're really taking care of patients.
14:55
- How much of that ethos comes from that
14:57
- nursing background?
14:59
- And is that one of the reasons why
15:01
- so many more
15:03
- people that were nurses by background
15:05
- are now leading systems and hospitals
15:08
- that Athos are really focusing on the patient
15:11
- and and the outcome and the quality of
15:13
- the care.
15:15
- Yeah. Scott, I really,
15:16
- really and truly believe,
15:18
- that that's true. You know, one of the
15:21
- premises
15:21
- of when
15:23
- you know, as a nurse when I got
15:24
- into health care was,
15:26
- my gosh, we wanted
15:29
- to,
15:30
- you know, get our patients,
15:32
- well, a lot quicker.
15:35
- We wanted to provide the highest level of
15:37
- care, but I think it's even come,
15:41
- a lot further
15:43
- now,
15:44
- because, you know, thirty eight years ago when
15:47
- I first,
15:48
- became a nurse and was practicing,
15:51
- a lot of the care provided,
15:54
- back then, you know, was was it was
15:57
- high quality and it was the quality
16:00
- of taking care of more
16:02
- of the ill patients,
16:05
- but that has really transformed
16:08
- over that period of time
16:10
- to keeping
16:12
- patients,
16:13
- keeping people healthy now. And that's a big
16:16
- quality measure. That's a big
16:19
- piece of quality
16:22
- for taking care of patients. We wanna see
16:24
- them come in and get things like colonoscopies
16:28
- and mammography,
16:31
- coming in to get annual physicals. You know,
16:33
- Medicare,
16:35
- really, really likes to see all of their
16:38
- recipients
16:39
- get their annual
16:41
- Medicare wellness visit.
16:43
- That is super important because in the long
16:46
- run, that will help to drive down your
16:50
- cost of health care
16:52
- by keeping
16:54
- people healthier for for a longer period of
16:57
- time. So again, that fits totally
17:01
- into
17:02
- my nursing career
17:04
- and really wanting the best for the people
17:07
- that we take care of.
17:10
- Mark, it's just fantastic to visit with you
17:12
- today on the Becker's Healthcare podcast. Tremendous leadership.
17:15
- Thank you for what you're doing for healthcare
17:17
- and for Edgerton.
17:18
- Thank you so much for joining us today
17:19
- on the Becker's Healthcare Podcast. Thank you so
17:21
- much. Thanks, Scott. I really appreciate being here.
17:24
- It's been great.