Austin Cheng – From the OR to DC: An ASC Leader’s Journey into Congressional Candidacy
Here’s what to expect on this week’s episode. 🎙️
🎙️ As a first-generation American, small business owner, healthcare expert, and army veteran with extensive criminal law experience, Austin Cheng has an impressive and extensive resume. What does Austin plan to do next with this experience? Run for New York’s 3rd Congressional District.
Austin F. Cheng, Esq. is currently the CEO of Gramercy Surgery Center, Inc. in New York. We had the opportunity to sit down with Austin to learn more about his journey to D.C. and how his life experiences have prepared him for this moment. While his platform covers critical topics such as lowering energy costs, bringing green jobs to Long Island, making the district a safer place, and inclusivity (amongst others), we focused most of the conversation on a topic he is very passionate about: healthcare.
A few highlights:
🔍 A fervent advocate for healthcare price transparency, Austin illuminated the existing conundrum in our healthcare system, highlighting the contrast with straightforward pricing in other industries.
📉 Actively working to make healthcare transparent and affordable, Austin highlighted critical focus areas such as surgeries, pharmaceuticals, chronic disease management, and end-of-life care, aligning with a vision for a sustainable healthcare system.
🇺🇸 As a Congressional candidate with a strong healthcare background, military experience, and representing the Asian American community, Austin aims to provide representation that resonates with the community’s experiences and challenges.
🔄 Austin seeks to steer his campaign towards positivity, direct impact, and genuine change, separating it from previous narratives and existing political scenarios.
Find the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube to hear all the details.
Episode Transcript
0:01
welcome to this week in surgery centers
0:03
if you’re in the ASC industry then
0:05
you’re in the right place every week
0:08
we’ll start the episode off by sharing
0:09
an interesting conversation we had with
0:11
our featured guest and then we’ll close
0:13
the episode by recapping the latest news
0:16
impacting surgery centers we’re excited
0:18
to share with you what we have so let’s
0:20
get started and see what the industry’s
0:22
been up
0:23
[Music]
0:26
to hi everyone here’s what you can
0:29
expect on today’s episode Austin Chang
0:32
is currently the CEO at gramarcy Surgery
0:35
Center in New York and today he joins us
0:38
to share some exciting news Austin has
0:41
officially announced that he is running
0:43
for the United States Congress and New
0:45
York’s thirdd congressional district I
0:48
discussed with Austin what inspired him
0:50
to go down this path the changes he
0:52
hopes to make particularly on the
0:54
healthc care front and what the future
0:56
will hold for him hope everyone enjoys
0:59
the episode and here’s what’s going on
1:01
this week in surgery
1:07
centers hi Austin welcome to the podcast
1:10
ER good thank you for having me great to
1:12
be on again I am so excited to have you
1:15
on today because you are actually the
1:17
first guest we ever had on the show
1:20
which was almost a year ago so you will
1:23
always hold a special place in our
1:25
show’s history but for our listeners who
1:28
may have missed episode one can you
1:30
share a little bit about yourself and
1:32
what we’re here to talk about
1:34
today yeah absolutely uh so I am the CEO
1:38
of gr Mery Surgery Center we are New
1:40
York’s leading independent Ambulatory
1:42
Surgery Center so we have a facility in
1:44
Manhattan and queens both in New York
1:46
City and they are ranked number one and
1:48
number two so we’re really proud of our
1:51
uh facilities and I also happen to be
1:53
running for United States Congress in
1:56
New York’s thirdd congressional
1:58
district that is incred incredible news
2:00
I’m so inspired by you what has inspired
2:03
you to run for Congress how did you get
2:05
to this
2:07
place yes absolutely so thank you for
2:10
that question it it’s I I look out to
2:14
what this country and Nation seems to be
2:16
becoming and um I just think that we
2:19
need to bring our politics back to a
2:21
place of stability and Common Sense
2:24
where Americans can know that their
2:27
political you know elected leaders are
2:29
were looking out for the best interest
2:32
of everyday Americans and not turning
2:35
every single little thing into a
2:37
political war we just came off the back
2:40
of a a near government shutdown that
2:42
would have been I think the fourth time
2:44
in in in 10 years and I I really think
2:46
Americans are just sick of that partisan
2:49
politics and we all want to move forward
2:51
and move to a place where we can talk to
2:53
one another like neighbors and bring
2:55
people first solutions back to our home
2:58
and our home districts
3:01
yeah yeah I think everyone will resonate
3:03
with that you have such a unique
3:06
background between being a lawyer in the
3:08
Army and now running a surgery center
3:11
not only any surgery center the number
3:13
one Surgery Center in New York how has
3:16
all of this experience prepared
3:20
you yes so before I was running gramarcy
3:24
Surgery Center I was actually serving on
3:26
active duty with the United States Army
3:28
in a section of the military that we
3:30
called the Jag core which is the the
3:33
section of attorneys so I was a I was
3:36
placed on a track a criminal law track
3:38
so I was a federal prosecutor
3:40
Prosecuting Army courts marshal for a
3:43
few years and then flip jobs and and I
3:45
was a criminal defense attorney also in
3:47
the federal system for the Army for a
3:50
little over a year as well so I I have
3:52
this base foundation in in criminal law
3:56
and and the military and I I gave that
3:59
up to to come back to grammar SE to take
4:02
on what was effectively my mother’s
4:05
business she founded it way back when
4:07
and at the time it was we were all
4:09
really proud of her because it was the
4:11
first holy woman owned non-surgeon owned
4:13
Surgery Center in New York and it since
4:16
then it’s really grown unfortunately she
4:18
fell ill to a terminal cancer so I I had
4:22
a long conversation with her back this
4:24
was back in 2018 and 2019 and and I
4:27
ended up making the decision to come
4:29
back to to New York and take on her
4:31
business but really her whole Legacy and
4:34
and this was gosh she we buried her the
4:37
the week right before coid in some sense
4:40
it was it was good timing in in the
4:42
sense that I was able to come back and
4:44
and take things on just in time and the
4:47
team from there they took things in
4:49
stride and continued to work really hard
4:51
and the team here is great and we’re
4:53
proud of what they do every day
4:54
providing healthc care to New Yorkers
4:56
but I say all that to say I I found
4:58
myself with this
5:00
legal background this criminal justice
5:02
background and and this military
5:03
background but at the same time this
5:06
very deep experience running a full
5:10
healthc care operation and a business so
5:13
I think that this is a really wide
5:15
breadth of experience that I’m really
5:17
excited to to offer to New York’s thirdd
5:19
congressional district and offer my
5:22
experiences and my passion for service
5:25
to to my home district and yeah just
5:28
really excited to to be a Congressional
5:30
candidate yeah and it’s you had shared
5:33
the story about your mother with me last
5:35
year and I honestly find myself thinking
5:38
about her often which I know might sound
5:40
weird because I’ve never met her but I
5:42
just am so fascinated with her story and
5:46
the noble cause of you coming back and
5:49
taking over the surgery center and just
5:51
you really are uniquely positioned and
5:54
have such a unique breath of experience
5:57
behind you already that I love love it I
5:59
think you’re going to do incredibly well
6:02
are you the first active Surgery Center
6:05
leader to run for Congress at least in
6:07
this District that you know
6:10
of the surgery center industry it it is
6:14
as every year we gather and there are
6:16
thousands of folks but I don’t think
6:18
it’s as as big as we think and I to the
6:20
best of my knowledge I I think I’m the
6:22
only ASC odor operator that’s run for
6:25
Congress if anybody has another fact out
6:28
there that says that’s not the case I I
6:30
would love to learn from who else ran
6:33
for congress so I can give a call and
6:35
and and get some notes from them but
6:37
yeah to to to the best of my knowledge I
6:38
I’m the first I’m really proud of that
6:41
yeah you should be that’s very cool I
6:43
did some Googling myself and I didn’t
6:45
find anything we’ll we’ll go with that
6:47
that you are the first until we hear
6:50
otherwise so Switching gears a little
6:52
bit let’s talk about your platform what
6:54
are the core pillars that that you’re
6:56
running
6:58
on
7:00
yeah appreciate that Eric I’m running
7:02
from a platform first and foremost
7:05
bringing common sense and and practical
7:09
solutions back to politics back to
7:13
Congress first and foremost I’m running
7:14
from a place where I’m just focusing on
7:17
real solutions to real problems and
7:19
framing the problems like that and I
7:21
think that we need to get back to a
7:24
place where that’s how we view our
7:26
problems As Americans I found myself
7:28
extreme mainly passionate about
7:30
healthcare because I’ve seen uh
7:32
Healthcare from behind the curtain a lot
7:34
of things that are wrong and broken with
7:37
our system but at the same time that
7:39
means a lot of room for improvement and
7:41
opportunities to improve that system for
7:45
everyday Americans so I’m definitely
7:46
going to be focusing a lot on healthc
7:48
care and there are other uh parts of the
7:52
platform as well Community safety High
7:55
Cost of Living and and ensuring that
7:56
everyday Americans are able to get by
8:00
especially with the high inflation
8:01
focusing on energy and infrastructure uh
8:04
but I would love to for this uh podcast
8:07
talk a little bit about uh healthc care
8:09
again because that is my passion we’ve
8:12
we found ourselves in a position where
8:14
this industry is now I believe the stats
8:16
say that we’re at 20% of the nation’s
8:19
GDP so this is one fit of our entire
8:23
economy is attributed to healthcare not
8:25
only that but it impacts everyday
8:28
Americans right and their ability to to
8:31
live and and and live their life in a
8:33
way that that they want to there there
8:35
are things that started happening and
8:38
and most recently I think Co really drew
8:40
it out into the foreground that I
8:43
believe is very concerning for
8:45
healthcare uh industry there was a
8:47
statistic that I read that during the
8:49
pandemic and immediately afterwards
8:51
there was a mass Exodus of MDS just
8:54
quitting the practice of medicine I
8:56
think the stat was 100,000 if you take
8:59
if you take into account the RNs and the
9:01
Pas and um all all the other Healthcare
9:04
Providers we’re we’re talking combined
9:06
probably 200,000 providers that left the
9:08
practice of medicine uh at the same time
9:11
I’m I’m looking at uh CMS medicare
9:15
reimbursements and I know for multiple
9:17
years in a row transition uh
9:20
reimbursement is cut by several
9:22
percentages uh percentage points so you
9:24
know on the one hand we have this
9:26
indication that there’s going to be a
9:28
shortage of provid matters and then we
9:30
have government policy um you know
9:33
seemingly making it even harder for
9:35
providers to continue practicing I know
9:37
that there are other just like everyday
9:39
Americans have expenses and costs
9:42
Healthcare Providers have that have that
9:43
as well and those cost seem to be going
9:45
up from materials to uh malpractice
9:50
insurance so I think healthc care is at
9:54
an inflection point and I I think that
9:57
we really need more leaders
9:59
and elected officials in Congress who
10:02
know Healthcare intimately so that’s one
10:06
point of the platform that that I’m
10:08
really excited about and hope to be able
10:10
to contribute and improve yeah I’m sure
10:13
you absolutely will I was just reading I
10:15
should have looked up the name of the
10:16
bill but there was a price transparency
10:18
act that was just triy to go through
10:20
again last month that got shot down and
10:23
so we need people in Congress who
10:27
understand why these bills matter and
10:29
who they impact and how the insurance
10:32
how the payers are going to be involved
10:33
and the Physicians and the patients and
10:35
because you obviously see hundreds and
10:37
hundreds of patients too so you’re not
10:39
only looking at it as a small business
10:41
owner but also as a consumer and you
10:44
have so many interactions with patients
10:48
themselves yeah
10:50
we because of the position that I’ve
10:53
been placed in and it’s really been an
10:55
honor to car that Legacy of my mother
10:57
and my family but because of this
10:59
position I’ve seen what it takes to
11:02
align all the different stakeholders
11:03
like you were saying there’s a lot of
11:05
different parties that make Health Care
11:08
work and and everybody is in healthare
11:10
to make sure that we provide the very
11:12
best health care to to our patients but
11:14
that only occurs if we have providers so
11:17
we need to also take care of our
11:20
providers otherwise there there’s not
11:22
going to be anybody to take care of
11:23
those patients we also need to and it’s
11:25
it’s not easy to take care of providers
11:29
because there’s all these different and
11:31
I I’ve gotten I’ve gained a a huge
11:33
respect for people running a swap
11:35
business because it takes a lot to make
11:37
sure that there’s the money in the bank
11:39
on for payroll all the way down to what
11:41
if the person at the front desk calls
11:43
out and how do you keep operations going
11:45
so it’s a lot of work for the providers
11:48
and the businesses and then you have of
11:50
course the insurance companies at the
11:52
end of the day they are a major
11:53
stakeholder and component in this
11:55
Healthcare ecosystem so we have to make
11:57
sure that they are aligned and and what
12:00
honestly that we push forward aligns all
12:03
the stakeholders I think that’s the key
12:04
in healthcare yeah I agree yeah the
12:07
payer piece of it is interesting because
12:10
it’s someone said to me recently keep
12:12
your friends close and your enemies
12:14
closer referring to insurance companies
12:17
and I don’t necessarily agree with that
12:19
but it’s you gotta the stronger your
12:21
relationship can be and the more you
12:23
understand where they’re coming from and
12:25
the more you can partner together vers
12:28
viewing them as an opponent in some sort
12:30
of way the better yeah it’s complicated
12:34
yeah no I I think insurance companies
12:37
have started working with providers like
12:39
surgery centers and they’ve worked to
12:41
lower costs that is something that we’ve
12:43
actually started doing at Grammer C uh
12:45
surgery center with insurance companies
12:48
but also with very large scale consumers
12:51
of healthcare like unions or other
12:53
employers where these large groups who
12:56
are also spending uh tons of money on
12:58
Healthcare look and say how do we save
13:01
costs for our members our union members
13:03
or our company or our employees we don’t
13:06
want to sacrifice that quality of care
13:08
we don’t want to sacrifice that patient
13:10
customer satisfaction that experience
13:12
and we’ve um been able to create a very
13:15
successful program with um a local union
13:19
here uh we we have worked with the hotel
13:21
Union for example um that Union has I
13:25
believe 40 50,000 members across New
13:27
York City that staff our City’s hotels
13:30
definitely a great partner to work with
13:32
but we’ve created a program where they
13:34
have access to two awardwinning surgery
13:37
centers that consistently have a good
13:41
reputation of patient satisfaction and
13:43
clinical outcomes so without sacrificing
13:46
that quality outcome and that patient
13:49
satisfaction we’ve helped them lower
13:51
their cost of care and and that is
13:54
because some of those procedures that
13:56
used to occur in the hospital uh have
13:59
come to our facilities and these are not
14:02
necessarily procedures
14:05
that you know that New Yorkers would
14:08
want to be in a hospital or need to be
14:10
in a hospital for like for example
14:13
cataract surgery I don’t know that
14:14
anybody um would really say our cataract
14:17
surgery has to stay in the hospital
14:19
right now nobody’s saying that even the
14:20
hospitals right they they want to save
14:22
their ORS for larger cases and cases
14:25
that need to be in a hospital setting so
14:28
I think it’s a
14:29
including the hospital big hospital
14:31
system stakeholders so we’re really
14:33
proud of that and I’m hoping to take
14:36
that for example that that lesson and
14:39
bring that to other Employers in the
14:41
community and say this is one example of
14:43
how I’ve used my experience in
14:45
healthcare to drive down costs for a
14:47
very real and large employer and I hope
14:50
to be able to take that expertise and
14:51
continue to drive down cost for other
14:54
Employers in in New York and in the
14:56
congressional district yeah no that’s a
14:59
great example in the spirit of cost
15:02
let’s talk about price transparency for
15:04
a second just because that’s something
15:06
that we’re passionate about I know it’s
15:08
important to you and I know it it’s
15:09
there’s so much going on right now with
15:11
price transparency legislation and that
15:14
obviously the financial aspect of having
15:17
surgery is just as stressful and for
15:20
people and anxiety inducing as the
15:22
surgery itself with gramar c and the
15:25
platform that you’re running on what are
15:27
you thinking in terms of price
15:28
transparency and how you can help
15:30
further that
15:32
cause uh as a consumer you want to be
15:35
able to walk into a shop or before you
15:38
receive a service you would like to know
15:40
what that cost of that service or that
15:41
product is right so when for example
15:44
when you walk into Starbucks in the
15:46
morning for a coffee you know exactly
15:48
what you’re getting and what you’re
15:49
paying for right we don’t necessarily
15:52
have that in healthcare we struggle to
15:53
provide the providers that can provide
15:56
an estimate of what they believe believe
15:58
the service is going to cost and then on
16:01
the back end there’s always this
16:03
reconciliation and these secondary bills
16:06
that come out after we balance and and
16:08
build the insurance companies and and
16:10
figure out what’s what is owed from each
16:13
party right so Healthcare is extremely
16:16
messy in that sense I hope to be able to
16:19
bring Health Care to a place where it
16:21
the pricing is transparent and it’s very
16:23
clear to patients not only that but it’s
16:26
affordable and we’re actively working to
16:29
drive down the cost of healthcare I
16:31
think surgery is one place where we can
16:34
focus on As
16:35
Americans and we’re chatting about
16:37
surgeries just because we happen to be
16:39
uh in in that industry but there are
16:41
other parts of healthcare as well
16:43
Pharmaceuticals and drugs uh big huge
16:46
component of Health Care there’s chronic
16:48
disease management where many Americans
16:51
rely on or need healthc care that that’s
16:55
helps them manage these chronic diseases
16:57
there’s end of life care that’s quite
16:59
costly as well in this country we need
17:02
to actively work to cut the costs uh of
17:05
Healthcare in this country yes I agree
17:08
it’s a basic human right and I think
17:10
everybody deserves to live with that
17:12
level of dignity and security knowing
17:15
that they can go get the health care
17:17
that they need without having to avoid
17:19
it because they’re concerned about the
17:21
cost I I agree before I I switch gears
17:25
and kind of wrap up is there anything
17:27
else about your platform that you wanted
17:29
to touch upon or wanted to
17:32
share just really excited to be one of
17:36
the uh one of the candidates with a real
17:39
heavyduty Health Care background and
17:42
operations experience uh really excited
17:45
to be one of the few candidates with
17:47
active duty military uh experience and
17:50
also really excited to be the only
17:51
Asian-American candidate on the ticket
17:54
across both parties so that
17:55
congressional district actually is
17:57
becoming you know that I think the
17:59
Asian-American population is is between
18:01
16 and 17% now it’s not nothing and I’m
18:05
really excited to just be able to say to
18:07
the say to my community here someone who
18:10
looks like you sounds like you grew up
18:12
with very similar experiences and really
18:14
excited to and proud to be able to
18:16
represent that community so that’s
18:17
another point of campaign that we’re
18:19
really uh excited about as well yeah
18:21
that’s awesome you should be incredibly
18:23
proud now considering whose seat you
18:27
would be replacing George Santos I’d
18:29
imagine this race is going to get a lot
18:31
of media attention more than most races
18:34
will so what do you think will be the
18:35
most challenging part of
18:40
that yeah I don’t ever really bring up
18:43
George Santos whenever I’m campaigning I
18:45
really I think everybody in the district
18:48
is just sick and tired of hearing his
18:51
name and everybody just wants to move on
18:53
so I think the hardest part uh about
18:56
this is to try to separate
18:59
our campaign with with George Sandos and
19:02
and focus the campaign really on what it
19:04
should be which is who I am and the
19:06
message and what I intend to do to help
19:09
the congressional district but we’re
19:11
really excited about making sure that’s
19:13
what that campaign our campaign is
19:15
focused on we’re not really going to be
19:17
focusing on George Santos at at all
19:20
that’s not really part of our plan and I
19:22
will say that that just like there there
19:26
are a ton of preferable things things
19:28
that happened because of coid but there
19:30
were a few good things that happened in
19:32
in healthcare in in our industry I think
19:35
it it taught what had patients asking is
19:39
there any place else that get surgery
19:41
besides a hospital and and that led
19:43
patients to become more and more
19:44
educated about surgery centers and I
19:45
thought that was a good thing uh that
19:47
that came from coid and just there are
19:49
many bad things that have come from the
19:51
George Sandos situation I think that
19:53
there are a few good things and and one
19:55
good thing that I’m really excited and
19:58
hopeful for is
19:59
that will drive a new crop of the
20:03
leaders to stand up and say hey we’re
20:05
we’re just sick and tired of our
20:07
supposed Community leaders being like
20:10
this and not putting um the community uh
20:13
first and and I hope and I expect that
20:17
his presence and in Congress will really
20:19
drive this yeah a new group of of
20:21
leaders that are young and energized and
20:24
just want to do good for the communities
20:26
I’m hoping that’s that’s one of the
20:27
silver Lin Ing and impacts of his of
20:29
George sanos good I love that you’re
20:32
bringing a breath of fresh air and I’m
20:34
sure the district will be very welcoming
20:36
of that so now that you’ve announced
20:40
what happens next what does the next
20:42
year look like for
20:44
you yes so I’m going to be very busy
20:47
because I am running these two
20:50
facilities but I’m also running a full
20:52
campaign right so we’re taking it day by
20:54
day I I think if I win the Democratic
20:59
primary which will be in late spring of
21:02
next year 2024 then I will really need
21:05
to assess my my day-to-day role here at
21:08
gramarcy and and figure out a solution
21:11
likely have to step down from here but
21:13
until then we’re playing it day by day
21:16
and yeah just very excited to be able to
21:18
run a campaign get my message out there
21:20
meet people and yeah so we’ll see how
21:22
that goes good all right how can people
21:25
learn more in support where can they
21:27
find you
21:29
yeah absolutely and thanks again for the
21:30
opportunity to be on the podcast ER our
21:32
campaign website is Austin forne
21:34
york.com so if they log on to that
21:37
website it’ll have list my issues and
21:39
what we’re focusing on they can if if
21:42
the campaign messaging if it happens to
21:44
resonate with them would love a donation
21:46
or or love for them to share with their
21:47
community and and their Network just
21:49
really excited to get the message out
21:51
and and hopefully bring bring Americans
21:53
back together back to a place where we
21:55
can talk about politics without feeling
21:57
like we to shout or end relationships so
22:01
just really excited about sharing that
22:03
message and and helping the community
22:07
all right thank you so much Austin I’m
22:09
rooting for you I’ll be following your
22:11
campaign and thank you so much for
22:13
coming
22:14
on thanks Erica take
22:26
care
welcome to this week in surgery centers
0:03
if you’re in the ASC industry then
0:05
you’re in the right place every week
0:08
we’ll start the episode off by sharing
0:09
an interesting conversation we had with
0:11
our featured guest and then we’ll close
0:13
the episode by recapping the latest news
0:16
impacting surgery centers we’re excited
0:18
to share with you what we have so let’s
0:20
get started and see what the industry’s
0:22
been up
0:23
[Music]
0:26
to hi everyone here’s what you can
0:29
expect on today’s episode Austin Chang
0:32
is currently the CEO at gramarcy Surgery
0:35
Center in New York and today he joins us
0:38
to share some exciting news Austin has
0:41
officially announced that he is running
0:43
for the United States Congress and New
0:45
York’s thirdd congressional district I
0:48
discussed with Austin what inspired him
0:50
to go down this path the changes he
0:52
hopes to make particularly on the
0:54
healthc care front and what the future
0:56
will hold for him hope everyone enjoys
0:59
the episode and here’s what’s going on
1:01
this week in surgery
1:07
centers hi Austin welcome to the podcast
1:10
ER good thank you for having me great to
1:12
be on again I am so excited to have you
1:15
on today because you are actually the
1:17
first guest we ever had on the show
1:20
which was almost a year ago so you will
1:23
always hold a special place in our
1:25
show’s history but for our listeners who
1:28
may have missed episode one can you
1:30
share a little bit about yourself and
1:32
what we’re here to talk about
1:34
today yeah absolutely uh so I am the CEO
1:38
of gr Mery Surgery Center we are New
1:40
York’s leading independent Ambulatory
1:42
Surgery Center so we have a facility in
1:44
Manhattan and queens both in New York
1:46
City and they are ranked number one and
1:48
number two so we’re really proud of our
1:51
uh facilities and I also happen to be
1:53
running for United States Congress in
1:56
New York’s thirdd congressional
1:58
district that is incred incredible news
2:00
I’m so inspired by you what has inspired
2:03
you to run for Congress how did you get
2:05
to this
2:07
place yes absolutely so thank you for
2:10
that question it it’s I I look out to
2:14
what this country and Nation seems to be
2:16
becoming and um I just think that we
2:19
need to bring our politics back to a
2:21
place of stability and Common Sense
2:24
where Americans can know that their
2:27
political you know elected leaders are
2:29
were looking out for the best interest
2:32
of everyday Americans and not turning
2:35
every single little thing into a
2:37
political war we just came off the back
2:40
of a a near government shutdown that
2:42
would have been I think the fourth time
2:44
in in in 10 years and I I really think
2:46
Americans are just sick of that partisan
2:49
politics and we all want to move forward
2:51
and move to a place where we can talk to
2:53
one another like neighbors and bring
2:55
people first solutions back to our home
2:58
and our home districts
3:01
yeah yeah I think everyone will resonate
3:03
with that you have such a unique
3:06
background between being a lawyer in the
3:08
Army and now running a surgery center
3:11
not only any surgery center the number
3:13
one Surgery Center in New York how has
3:16
all of this experience prepared
3:20
you yes so before I was running gramarcy
3:24
Surgery Center I was actually serving on
3:26
active duty with the United States Army
3:28
in a section of the military that we
3:30
called the Jag core which is the the
3:33
section of attorneys so I was a I was
3:36
placed on a track a criminal law track
3:38
so I was a federal prosecutor
3:40
Prosecuting Army courts marshal for a
3:43
few years and then flip jobs and and I
3:45
was a criminal defense attorney also in
3:47
the federal system for the Army for a
3:50
little over a year as well so I I have
3:52
this base foundation in in criminal law
3:56
and and the military and I I gave that
3:59
up to to come back to grammar SE to take
4:02
on what was effectively my mother’s
4:05
business she founded it way back when
4:07
and at the time it was we were all
4:09
really proud of her because it was the
4:11
first holy woman owned non-surgeon owned
4:13
Surgery Center in New York and it since
4:16
then it’s really grown unfortunately she
4:18
fell ill to a terminal cancer so I I had
4:22
a long conversation with her back this
4:24
was back in 2018 and 2019 and and I
4:27
ended up making the decision to come
4:29
back to to New York and take on her
4:31
business but really her whole Legacy and
4:34
and this was gosh she we buried her the
4:37
the week right before coid in some sense
4:40
it was it was good timing in in the
4:42
sense that I was able to come back and
4:44
and take things on just in time and the
4:47
team from there they took things in
4:49
stride and continued to work really hard
4:51
and the team here is great and we’re
4:53
proud of what they do every day
4:54
providing healthc care to New Yorkers
4:56
but I say all that to say I I found
4:58
myself with this
5:00
legal background this criminal justice
5:02
background and and this military
5:03
background but at the same time this
5:06
very deep experience running a full
5:10
healthc care operation and a business so
5:13
I think that this is a really wide
5:15
breadth of experience that I’m really
5:17
excited to to offer to New York’s thirdd
5:19
congressional district and offer my
5:22
experiences and my passion for service
5:25
to to my home district and yeah just
5:28
really excited to to be a Congressional
5:30
candidate yeah and it’s you had shared
5:33
the story about your mother with me last
5:35
year and I honestly find myself thinking
5:38
about her often which I know might sound
5:40
weird because I’ve never met her but I
5:42
just am so fascinated with her story and
5:46
the noble cause of you coming back and
5:49
taking over the surgery center and just
5:51
you really are uniquely positioned and
5:54
have such a unique breath of experience
5:57
behind you already that I love love it I
5:59
think you’re going to do incredibly well
6:02
are you the first active Surgery Center
6:05
leader to run for Congress at least in
6:07
this District that you know
6:10
of the surgery center industry it it is
6:14
as every year we gather and there are
6:16
thousands of folks but I don’t think
6:18
it’s as as big as we think and I to the
6:20
best of my knowledge I I think I’m the
6:22
only ASC odor operator that’s run for
6:25
Congress if anybody has another fact out
6:28
there that says that’s not the case I I
6:30
would love to learn from who else ran
6:33
for congress so I can give a call and
6:35
and and get some notes from them but
6:37
yeah to to to the best of my knowledge I
6:38
I’m the first I’m really proud of that
6:41
yeah you should be that’s very cool I
6:43
did some Googling myself and I didn’t
6:45
find anything we’ll we’ll go with that
6:47
that you are the first until we hear
6:50
otherwise so Switching gears a little
6:52
bit let’s talk about your platform what
6:54
are the core pillars that that you’re
6:56
running
6:58
on
7:00
yeah appreciate that Eric I’m running
7:02
from a platform first and foremost
7:05
bringing common sense and and practical
7:09
solutions back to politics back to
7:13
Congress first and foremost I’m running
7:14
from a place where I’m just focusing on
7:17
real solutions to real problems and
7:19
framing the problems like that and I
7:21
think that we need to get back to a
7:24
place where that’s how we view our
7:26
problems As Americans I found myself
7:28
extreme mainly passionate about
7:30
healthcare because I’ve seen uh
7:32
Healthcare from behind the curtain a lot
7:34
of things that are wrong and broken with
7:37
our system but at the same time that
7:39
means a lot of room for improvement and
7:41
opportunities to improve that system for
7:45
everyday Americans so I’m definitely
7:46
going to be focusing a lot on healthc
7:48
care and there are other uh parts of the
7:52
platform as well Community safety High
7:55
Cost of Living and and ensuring that
7:56
everyday Americans are able to get by
8:00
especially with the high inflation
8:01
focusing on energy and infrastructure uh
8:04
but I would love to for this uh podcast
8:07
talk a little bit about uh healthc care
8:09
again because that is my passion we’ve
8:12
we found ourselves in a position where
8:14
this industry is now I believe the stats
8:16
say that we’re at 20% of the nation’s
8:19
GDP so this is one fit of our entire
8:23
economy is attributed to healthcare not
8:25
only that but it impacts everyday
8:28
Americans right and their ability to to
8:31
live and and and live their life in a
8:33
way that that they want to there there
8:35
are things that started happening and
8:38
and most recently I think Co really drew
8:40
it out into the foreground that I
8:43
believe is very concerning for
8:45
healthcare uh industry there was a
8:47
statistic that I read that during the
8:49
pandemic and immediately afterwards
8:51
there was a mass Exodus of MDS just
8:54
quitting the practice of medicine I
8:56
think the stat was 100,000 if you take
8:59
if you take into account the RNs and the
9:01
Pas and um all all the other Healthcare
9:04
Providers we’re we’re talking combined
9:06
probably 200,000 providers that left the
9:08
practice of medicine uh at the same time
9:11
I’m I’m looking at uh CMS medicare
9:15
reimbursements and I know for multiple
9:17
years in a row transition uh
9:20
reimbursement is cut by several
9:22
percentages uh percentage points so you
9:24
know on the one hand we have this
9:26
indication that there’s going to be a
9:28
shortage of provid matters and then we
9:30
have government policy um you know
9:33
seemingly making it even harder for
9:35
providers to continue practicing I know
9:37
that there are other just like everyday
9:39
Americans have expenses and costs
9:42
Healthcare Providers have that have that
9:43
as well and those cost seem to be going
9:45
up from materials to uh malpractice
9:50
insurance so I think healthc care is at
9:54
an inflection point and I I think that
9:57
we really need more leaders
9:59
and elected officials in Congress who
10:02
know Healthcare intimately so that’s one
10:06
point of the platform that that I’m
10:08
really excited about and hope to be able
10:10
to contribute and improve yeah I’m sure
10:13
you absolutely will I was just reading I
10:15
should have looked up the name of the
10:16
bill but there was a price transparency
10:18
act that was just triy to go through
10:20
again last month that got shot down and
10:23
so we need people in Congress who
10:27
understand why these bills matter and
10:29
who they impact and how the insurance
10:32
how the payers are going to be involved
10:33
and the Physicians and the patients and
10:35
because you obviously see hundreds and
10:37
hundreds of patients too so you’re not
10:39
only looking at it as a small business
10:41
owner but also as a consumer and you
10:44
have so many interactions with patients
10:48
themselves yeah
10:50
we because of the position that I’ve
10:53
been placed in and it’s really been an
10:55
honor to car that Legacy of my mother
10:57
and my family but because of this
10:59
position I’ve seen what it takes to
11:02
align all the different stakeholders
11:03
like you were saying there’s a lot of
11:05
different parties that make Health Care
11:08
work and and everybody is in healthare
11:10
to make sure that we provide the very
11:12
best health care to to our patients but
11:14
that only occurs if we have providers so
11:17
we need to also take care of our
11:20
providers otherwise there there’s not
11:22
going to be anybody to take care of
11:23
those patients we also need to and it’s
11:25
it’s not easy to take care of providers
11:29
because there’s all these different and
11:31
I I’ve gotten I’ve gained a a huge
11:33
respect for people running a swap
11:35
business because it takes a lot to make
11:37
sure that there’s the money in the bank
11:39
on for payroll all the way down to what
11:41
if the person at the front desk calls
11:43
out and how do you keep operations going
11:45
so it’s a lot of work for the providers
11:48
and the businesses and then you have of
11:50
course the insurance companies at the
11:52
end of the day they are a major
11:53
stakeholder and component in this
11:55
Healthcare ecosystem so we have to make
11:57
sure that they are aligned and and what
12:00
honestly that we push forward aligns all
12:03
the stakeholders I think that’s the key
12:04
in healthcare yeah I agree yeah the
12:07
payer piece of it is interesting because
12:10
it’s someone said to me recently keep
12:12
your friends close and your enemies
12:14
closer referring to insurance companies
12:17
and I don’t necessarily agree with that
12:19
but it’s you gotta the stronger your
12:21
relationship can be and the more you
12:23
understand where they’re coming from and
12:25
the more you can partner together vers
12:28
viewing them as an opponent in some sort
12:30
of way the better yeah it’s complicated
12:34
yeah no I I think insurance companies
12:37
have started working with providers like
12:39
surgery centers and they’ve worked to
12:41
lower costs that is something that we’ve
12:43
actually started doing at Grammer C uh
12:45
surgery center with insurance companies
12:48
but also with very large scale consumers
12:51
of healthcare like unions or other
12:53
employers where these large groups who
12:56
are also spending uh tons of money on
12:58
Healthcare look and say how do we save
13:01
costs for our members our union members
13:03
or our company or our employees we don’t
13:06
want to sacrifice that quality of care
13:08
we don’t want to sacrifice that patient
13:10
customer satisfaction that experience
13:12
and we’ve um been able to create a very
13:15
successful program with um a local union
13:19
here uh we we have worked with the hotel
13:21
Union for example um that Union has I
13:25
believe 40 50,000 members across New
13:27
York City that staff our City’s hotels
13:30
definitely a great partner to work with
13:32
but we’ve created a program where they
13:34
have access to two awardwinning surgery
13:37
centers that consistently have a good
13:41
reputation of patient satisfaction and
13:43
clinical outcomes so without sacrificing
13:46
that quality outcome and that patient
13:49
satisfaction we’ve helped them lower
13:51
their cost of care and and that is
13:54
because some of those procedures that
13:56
used to occur in the hospital uh have
13:59
come to our facilities and these are not
14:02
necessarily procedures
14:05
that you know that New Yorkers would
14:08
want to be in a hospital or need to be
14:10
in a hospital for like for example
14:13
cataract surgery I don’t know that
14:14
anybody um would really say our cataract
14:17
surgery has to stay in the hospital
14:19
right now nobody’s saying that even the
14:20
hospitals right they they want to save
14:22
their ORS for larger cases and cases
14:25
that need to be in a hospital setting so
14:28
I think it’s a
14:29
including the hospital big hospital
14:31
system stakeholders so we’re really
14:33
proud of that and I’m hoping to take
14:36
that for example that that lesson and
14:39
bring that to other Employers in the
14:41
community and say this is one example of
14:43
how I’ve used my experience in
14:45
healthcare to drive down costs for a
14:47
very real and large employer and I hope
14:50
to be able to take that expertise and
14:51
continue to drive down cost for other
14:54
Employers in in New York and in the
14:56
congressional district yeah no that’s a
14:59
great example in the spirit of cost
15:02
let’s talk about price transparency for
15:04
a second just because that’s something
15:06
that we’re passionate about I know it’s
15:08
important to you and I know it it’s
15:09
there’s so much going on right now with
15:11
price transparency legislation and that
15:14
obviously the financial aspect of having
15:17
surgery is just as stressful and for
15:20
people and anxiety inducing as the
15:22
surgery itself with gramar c and the
15:25
platform that you’re running on what are
15:27
you thinking in terms of price
15:28
transparency and how you can help
15:30
further that
15:32
cause uh as a consumer you want to be
15:35
able to walk into a shop or before you
15:38
receive a service you would like to know
15:40
what that cost of that service or that
15:41
product is right so when for example
15:44
when you walk into Starbucks in the
15:46
morning for a coffee you know exactly
15:48
what you’re getting and what you’re
15:49
paying for right we don’t necessarily
15:52
have that in healthcare we struggle to
15:53
provide the providers that can provide
15:56
an estimate of what they believe believe
15:58
the service is going to cost and then on
16:01
the back end there’s always this
16:03
reconciliation and these secondary bills
16:06
that come out after we balance and and
16:08
build the insurance companies and and
16:10
figure out what’s what is owed from each
16:13
party right so Healthcare is extremely
16:16
messy in that sense I hope to be able to
16:19
bring Health Care to a place where it
16:21
the pricing is transparent and it’s very
16:23
clear to patients not only that but it’s
16:26
affordable and we’re actively working to
16:29
drive down the cost of healthcare I
16:31
think surgery is one place where we can
16:34
focus on As
16:35
Americans and we’re chatting about
16:37
surgeries just because we happen to be
16:39
uh in in that industry but there are
16:41
other parts of healthcare as well
16:43
Pharmaceuticals and drugs uh big huge
16:46
component of Health Care there’s chronic
16:48
disease management where many Americans
16:51
rely on or need healthc care that that’s
16:55
helps them manage these chronic diseases
16:57
there’s end of life care that’s quite
16:59
costly as well in this country we need
17:02
to actively work to cut the costs uh of
17:05
Healthcare in this country yes I agree
17:08
it’s a basic human right and I think
17:10
everybody deserves to live with that
17:12
level of dignity and security knowing
17:15
that they can go get the health care
17:17
that they need without having to avoid
17:19
it because they’re concerned about the
17:21
cost I I agree before I I switch gears
17:25
and kind of wrap up is there anything
17:27
else about your platform that you wanted
17:29
to touch upon or wanted to
17:32
share just really excited to be one of
17:36
the uh one of the candidates with a real
17:39
heavyduty Health Care background and
17:42
operations experience uh really excited
17:45
to be one of the few candidates with
17:47
active duty military uh experience and
17:50
also really excited to be the only
17:51
Asian-American candidate on the ticket
17:54
across both parties so that
17:55
congressional district actually is
17:57
becoming you know that I think the
17:59
Asian-American population is is between
18:01
16 and 17% now it’s not nothing and I’m
18:05
really excited to just be able to say to
18:07
the say to my community here someone who
18:10
looks like you sounds like you grew up
18:12
with very similar experiences and really
18:14
excited to and proud to be able to
18:16
represent that community so that’s
18:17
another point of campaign that we’re
18:19
really uh excited about as well yeah
18:21
that’s awesome you should be incredibly
18:23
proud now considering whose seat you
18:27
would be replacing George Santos I’d
18:29
imagine this race is going to get a lot
18:31
of media attention more than most races
18:34
will so what do you think will be the
18:35
most challenging part of
18:40
that yeah I don’t ever really bring up
18:43
George Santos whenever I’m campaigning I
18:45
really I think everybody in the district
18:48
is just sick and tired of hearing his
18:51
name and everybody just wants to move on
18:53
so I think the hardest part uh about
18:56
this is to try to separate
18:59
our campaign with with George Sandos and
19:02
and focus the campaign really on what it
19:04
should be which is who I am and the
19:06
message and what I intend to do to help
19:09
the congressional district but we’re
19:11
really excited about making sure that’s
19:13
what that campaign our campaign is
19:15
focused on we’re not really going to be
19:17
focusing on George Santos at at all
19:20
that’s not really part of our plan and I
19:22
will say that that just like there there
19:26
are a ton of preferable things things
19:28
that happened because of coid but there
19:30
were a few good things that happened in
19:32
in healthcare in in our industry I think
19:35
it it taught what had patients asking is
19:39
there any place else that get surgery
19:41
besides a hospital and and that led
19:43
patients to become more and more
19:44
educated about surgery centers and I
19:45
thought that was a good thing uh that
19:47
that came from coid and just there are
19:49
many bad things that have come from the
19:51
George Sandos situation I think that
19:53
there are a few good things and and one
19:55
good thing that I’m really excited and
19:58
hopeful for is
19:59
that will drive a new crop of the
20:03
leaders to stand up and say hey we’re
20:05
we’re just sick and tired of our
20:07
supposed Community leaders being like
20:10
this and not putting um the community uh
20:13
first and and I hope and I expect that
20:17
his presence and in Congress will really
20:19
drive this yeah a new group of of
20:21
leaders that are young and energized and
20:24
just want to do good for the communities
20:26
I’m hoping that’s that’s one of the
20:27
silver Lin Ing and impacts of his of
20:29
George sanos good I love that you’re
20:32
bringing a breath of fresh air and I’m
20:34
sure the district will be very welcoming
20:36
of that so now that you’ve announced
20:40
what happens next what does the next
20:42
year look like for
20:44
you yes so I’m going to be very busy
20:47
because I am running these two
20:50
facilities but I’m also running a full
20:52
campaign right so we’re taking it day by
20:54
day I I think if I win the Democratic
20:59
primary which will be in late spring of
21:02
next year 2024 then I will really need
21:05
to assess my my day-to-day role here at
21:08
gramarcy and and figure out a solution
21:11
likely have to step down from here but
21:13
until then we’re playing it day by day
21:16
and yeah just very excited to be able to
21:18
run a campaign get my message out there
21:20
meet people and yeah so we’ll see how
21:22
that goes good all right how can people
21:25
learn more in support where can they
21:27
find you
21:29
yeah absolutely and thanks again for the
21:30
opportunity to be on the podcast ER our
21:32
campaign website is Austin forne
21:34
york.com so if they log on to that
21:37
website it’ll have list my issues and
21:39
what we’re focusing on they can if if
21:42
the campaign messaging if it happens to
21:44
resonate with them would love a donation
21:46
or or love for them to share with their
21:47
community and and their Network just
21:49
really excited to get the message out
21:51
and and hopefully bring bring Americans
21:53
back together back to a place where we
21:55
can talk about politics without feeling
21:57
like we to shout or end relationships so
22:01
just really excited about sharing that
22:03
message and and helping the community
22:07
all right thank you so much Austin I’m
22:09
rooting for you I’ll be following your
22:11
campaign and thank you so much for
22:13
coming
22:14
on thanks Erica take
22:26
care
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