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Ep. 4: Beth LaBouyer – From Nurse to Admin: Succeeding in Business | This Week in Surgery Centers
Here’s what to expect on this week’s episode. 🎙️
You know how to run an OR. But how about running an ASC?
In our world, it’s common for someone with a clinical background to get promoted to an Admin or CEO and be expected to run the day-to-day business of an entire ASC.
The to-do list is never-ending for an administrator. You have to juggle QAPI studies, IT requirements, risk management, physician peer reviews, credentialing, contract negotiations, accreditations, patient satisfaction, revenue cycle management, and so much more. 🤯 So how do you begin to learn and tackle all these moving parts?
Beth LaBouyer, the Executive Director of California Ambulatory Surgery Association, joins us on this week’s podcast to share her experience and break down five tips to make your transition from clinical to business a success.
Tip 1 – Involve Your Team. 🤝 Look at their strengths, delegate responsibilities, and empower them to own specific processes. This not only helps you but also builds camaraderie and increases longevity.
Tip 2 – Support the Industry. 👥 Become a member of ASCA or your state association to stay close to the latest federal and state regulations. You’ll also be financially supporting organizations that are advocating on your behalf.
Tip 3 – Know Your Standards and Regulations. 📚 It seems simple, but make sure you are very familiar with the CMS Interpretative Guidelines Appendix L. Then focus on accreditation standards and your state regulations. Download and spend time with these documents.
Tip 4 – Take Advantage of Networking. 📲 Our industry is very fortunate in that everyone is extremely helpful. Attend meetings, join online communities and forums, and meet your peers.
Tip 5 – Distinguish Yourself and Your ASC. 🏆 Seek all the opportunities you can to set your surgery center and yourself apart. Certifications such as CASC or CAIP make a difference.
Bonus Tip: Join your local chamber of commerce to stay close to your community!
Find the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube to hear all the details!
In our news recap, we’ll cover Google’s new Medical Imaging Suite, this year’s flu season, Newsweek’s latest report on America’s Best ASCs, and a new documentary called The Strength to Heal.
Episode Transcript
0:00
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
0:07
we’ll start the episode off by sharing
0:10
an interesting conversation we had with
0:11
our featured guests and then we’ll close
0:13
the episode by recapping the latest news
0:15
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 to
0:23
[Music]
0:27
hi everyone here’s what you can expect
0:29
on today’s episode our host Nick Latz
0:33
sits down with Beth laboyer who is the
0:35
executive director of the California
0:37
Ambulatory Surgery Association Beth
0:40
joins us today to share tips for those
0:42
who have been promoted to ASC
0:44
administrators that have a clinical
0:46
background and can run an or but might
0:48
not be sure where to start when it comes
0:50
to running a business staying on top of
0:52
regulations properly Staffing and
0:55
everything in between
0:57
we’ll close the episode with a few news
0:59
stories we’ll start with a recap of
1:01
Google’s new AI solution called Medical
1:03
Imaging Suite share a little insight
1:06
into what the CDC is saying about this
1:08
year’s flu season talk about newsweek’s
1:11
latest report on America’s best
1:13
Ambulatory Surgery centers and of course
1:16
end the new segment with the positive
1:18
story about a new documentary called the
1:20
strength to heal hope everyone enjoys
1:22
the episode and here’s what’s going on
1:24
this week in surgery centers
1:29
thank you
1:31
that’s welcome to the show Nick so nice
1:33
to be here really appreciate it Beth if
1:36
you don’t mind can you tell our
1:37
listeners a little bit about yourself
1:39
how long have you been with the castle
1:40
organization and what’s your role sure
1:43
so uh yes I am the executive director of
1:47
Casa a more formerly known as the
1:50
California Ambulatory Surgery
1:52
Association and gosh I’ve been in that
1:55
role since 2004 which is kind of hard to
1:58
believe I can’t believe so much time has
2:00
passed but um my role there is basically
2:04
to implement the the Strategic plan for
2:07
the board and help our members succeed
2:11
as ases in California and you know that
2:15
that involves some advocacy and reggae
2:19
you know and developing relationships
2:22
with the regulatory bodies I’m making
2:24
sure they know who ASCS are and that
2:27
what we’re doing for their communities
2:29
with health care and driving down the
2:30
cost of care a lot of it has to do with
2:33
education because there’s so much
2:35
changing
2:37
um with surgery centers and so much you
2:40
know that ASCS need to keep current with
2:42
so I don’t develop a lot of education
2:44
programs
2:45
and you know lastly is kind of being a
2:47
Lifeline to our members so if they have
2:51
a question or need assistance with
2:54
something they know that they can reach
2:56
out to me in the casa team and we’ll get
2:58
back with them as quickly as possible
2:59
and try to give them an answer and if we
3:02
don’t know it we’ll we’ll find a you
3:04
know find others that do know the answer
3:06
for them so they can you know like I
3:09
said be the best they can be in their
3:11
surgery centers
3:12
fantastic I know so many surgery centers
3:15
and in our area and Community have
3:17
gotten so much value from your
3:18
organization over the years
3:20
and I want to to touch on a little bit
3:23
Beth as well your background you know
3:26
prior to cast that can you talk a little
3:29
bit about your experience in career
3:30
prior to cancer yeah so I’m a registered
3:33
nurse and gosh I started out in labor
3:36
and delivery and and in that role I
3:39
learned to circulate and scrub
3:42
C-sections so it was kind of a natural
3:44
transition for me to go to the hospital
3:47
at Hospital surgical department so I
3:50
spent years there and worked in multiple
3:52
Specialties both scrubbing and
3:54
circulating and ended up doing a little
3:57
management and became a certified nurse
4:00
of the uh perioperative nurse so cnor
4:03
and then
4:05
um gosh uh I took a role as The Clinical
4:10
Director for a local ASC in our area and
4:15
um felt very comfortable with that role
4:17
running the the or and the pre-op and
4:20
the recovery but I swear within a week
4:23
the business office manager left and it
4:27
felt like it was the next week I’m sure
4:29
it wasn’t this quick but the
4:30
administrator left and uh next thing I
4:33
knew I was in charge of all of the
4:36
different operations of the surgery
4:37
center not just the clinical operations
4:40
and I quickly felt like gosh you know a
4:43
fish out of water so much I needed to
4:45
know
4:46
and
4:48
um just great timing
4:50
um I attended a casa conference
4:53
shortly thereafter and at that time Casa
4:57
was all volunteer and
5:00
um I was just amazed they took me in
5:04
um the all of the the members there and
5:08
the contacts and here I was you know
5:12
needing to learn so much and they just
5:14
really helped me it was a true Lifeline
5:17
for me and uh you know I could pick up
5:20
the phone and call them and email and
5:23
just I kept learning and learning and I
5:26
of course became involved with the
5:28
association as a volunteer and it just
5:31
really taught me the value of being a
5:34
part of that community and being a part
5:38
of the State Association
5:40
and then
5:41
um gosh Casa grew and they wanted to
5:44
bring um
5:45
um payf some you know the paid staff and
5:48
I was you know having some life changes
5:51
it was very full time or very part-time
5:53
when I took this position but I ended up
5:55
being the executive director of Casa
5:59
um uh part-time and then now it’s full
6:02
time and we’re just like going gang
6:04
gangbusters
6:06
yeah that’s cool to hear how your career
6:09
kind of came full circle
6:11
um you know through kind of the ranks at
6:13
the surgery center and into the casa
6:14
organization to help you know fuel field
6:16
organizations growth that you mentioned
6:18
I want to touch on one aspect of your
6:21
background that you mentioned that that
6:23
I think will pertain to several of our
6:24
listeners around a clinical background
6:28
in a surgery center environment in
6:30
transitioning into more of the business
6:32
side and the administrative side because
6:35
it seems Seems like that is fairly
6:38
fairly common for for nurses and
6:40
clinical folks to make that transition
6:42
what what was it like to make that
6:45
transition at that time did you feel
6:48
well prepared or is it one of those
6:49
drinking from a fire hose type wow you
6:52
know what it was it was really
6:55
um
6:56
drinking from a fire hose is a great
6:59
example I felt like I was the only one
7:02
that
7:04
had gone this pathway and I think that’s
7:08
part of being my experience with Casa I
7:11
learned that I wasn’t the only one that
7:14
you know had this transition in fact
7:16
it’s more common than that and I mean
7:19
kind of um interesting is I just got off
7:22
the phone with somebody who 20 years
7:25
nursing experience and all Val they’re
7:27
running a surgery center and
7:30
um you know all of their concerns and
7:32
feeling uncomfortable and and and
7:35
needing to know so much and I was like
7:38
well that’s interesting I’m talking
7:39
about that today and here here we are
7:41
you know I just I literally just hung up
7:43
the phone and so you would think I mean
7:46
in all this time that’s passed that we
7:48
would have
7:49
um you know more preparation or a
7:51
different pathway but I think it’s just
7:53
how it works you’re
7:56
um you know a good clinical leader and
7:59
next thing you know that you’re taking
8:01
on more of these operations and more of
8:03
these responsibilities
8:06
yeah so it sounds a little bit like
8:07
trial by fire and uh and I’m interested
8:11
in that kind of training and education
8:13
piece and you you reference that you
8:15
Leverage The the casa organization at
8:17
that time maybe tell me a little bit
8:19
about what kind of training and
8:22
resourcing and and networking was
8:24
available when you made the transition
8:26
and maybe contrast to that to what you
8:29
see you know available now is there a
8:31
difference in in education and
8:33
experience that’s out there I think
8:35
there are a few more resources and
8:38
certainly the industry has grown that
8:41
they’re you know you have more
8:43
opportunities but there still is the
8:46
same need so when you’re coming from you
8:51
know a clinical background you’ve got I
8:54
mean more than often you know you’re
8:56
really experienced with the or and boy
8:59
you know how to run the the operating
9:00
room you know you know who’s the strong
9:03
people to put in Specialties for to make
9:06
the a case that room go great for the
9:08
day and how to manage acute patient
9:11
Acuity and the schedule and pre-op and
9:14
recovery room but when you get to the
9:16
surgery center
9:17
you and particularly if you’re coming
9:20
from an inpatient environment
9:22
you have all these responsibilities that
9:25
you just that you might have resources
9:28
for in the hospital you’ve got your
9:31
Regulatory and accreditation you have
9:34
your uh running A Sterile Processing
9:36
Department you’ve got uh an infection
9:39
prevention program in the hospital
9:41
that’s usually outsourced by a different
9:43
department and here you are responsible
9:46
and in ASC
9:49
um you have I.T right and all of a
9:53
sudden you’re responsible for I.T and
9:55
you know gosh more than often than that
9:57
that’s really not your expertise and
9:59
then you talk about
10:01
um
10:02
crop the quality program and risk
10:05
management and then you have physician
10:07
peer review and credentialing and then
10:09
we haven’t even got into the business
10:10
side with contract negotiations and
10:13
revenue cycle and billing and and even
10:16
just how to read a financial statement
10:18
so it’s it is just really it’s really
10:22
overwhelming and
10:24
um I guess the one thing I have to say
10:26
is there’s so much
10:28
that you just can’t do this alone
10:31
you’ve got to look in look at your team
10:34
and you’ve got to be able to all work
10:37
together so you can work build on your
10:40
strengths
10:41
so you can be the best ASC that you can
10:43
be
10:45
absolutely
10:48
um and do you think there are certain
10:50
aspects of your clinical background that
10:54
influence how you managed all those
10:56
aspects of the ASC as an administrator
10:59
um yes I think
11:03
you know if you’re coming from an or you
11:05
you you
11:07
um you’ve dealt particularly in the
11:08
inpatient environment you’ve dealt with
11:11
having to think quickly on your feet and
11:14
dealing with emergency situations and
11:16
being able to prioritize
11:18
so often a lot of that comes into you
11:22
know like being organized and and some
11:25
of those things but then there’s a lot
11:27
of leadership skills that you just you
11:29
know some of them are inherent and some
11:32
of them are not and so you need to you
11:35
know you need to be able to build on
11:36
those
11:39
absolutely that’s great
11:42
um one of the things we like to do on
11:44
the podcast Beth is make sure we’re kind
11:46
of given practical tips and tricks to
11:50
our listeners that’s what our our
11:51
listeners really like to engage with and
11:53
learn from and so you know if if you’re
11:57
you know speaking to that that section
11:58
of the audience that is familiar with
12:01
the operating room right like you
12:03
mentioned knows how to run the operating
12:05
room
12:06
it is maybe new to or thinking through
12:08
hey how would I apply the skill set or
12:10
experience to managing a whole Surgery
12:12
Center what would be a couple of tips
12:15
and tricks that you would provide you
12:16
know what I think I would come away I’ve
12:18
been thinking this with five tips so
12:21
um the one thing I’m gonna just build on
12:23
what I just said is involving your team
12:26
because you can’t be successful alone
12:29
and you’ve got to look at the big
12:31
picture and
12:33
um you know be transparent and so
12:35
looking at your team’s strengths and
12:38
delegating those
12:40
um you know you may see someone that’s
12:42
going to be great to be a great
12:43
infection preventionist and Empower them
12:46
to take that role on and Thrive there
12:50
um same with copy
12:52
um you might have someone who’s really
12:53
techy and you know you plan to pull them
12:56
into some of the I.T stuff or
12:59
gosh some of this stuff that is really
13:02
outside your expertise you might want to
13:04
Outsource and bring in an industry
13:06
expert to help with that but you can’t
13:09
do it alone you need to build your team
13:11
and when I S and I think something
13:13
that’s incredible with that is it builds
13:18
camaraderie it builds ownership amongst
13:21
the staff to have the ASC succeed and um
13:25
in this in these days where we’re having
13:28
um Staffing challenges which it also
13:32
helps to build longevity folks that want
13:35
to stay and and and not leave the
13:38
surgery center so that’s tip number one
13:40
which which is increasingly important
13:42
today exactly right which everybody’s
13:44
having these Staffing shortage and
13:46
challenges and how do we kind of
13:48
motivate and Inspire staff members to
13:50
stay so I always Circle those tips that
13:53
help with uh kind of employee you know
13:56
retention and satisfaction so number one
13:58
involve your team I think the second one
14:00
supporting the industry there are so
14:03
many factors out there that are
14:05
affecting your surgery center and your
14:07
operations that you have no control over
14:09
uh your regulations uh your
14:12
reimbursement
14:14
um you know things around Staffing
14:15
regulations so you need to support your
14:18
industry that’s kind of working with
14:20
those uh challenges for example aska is
14:25
uh you know working every day to uh to
14:28
work with Medicare and you know the
14:31
federal regulations and that’s hugely
14:34
impactful for your ASE and then if
14:38
you’re in a state you’re going to have
14:39
different state regulations affecting
14:42
your surgery center so you need to be
14:43
part of a community that is supporting
14:46
your industry because you don’t want to
14:49
be have something happen to you that’s
14:51
going to negatively impact your Center
14:54
and I think you know the pandemic
14:56
brought to light
14:58
how important it is to be plugged in to
15:02
to both of those different areas because
15:04
things were changing every day and you
15:07
know you have the federal stuff coming
15:08
down in the state and if you weren’t
15:10
plugged into your
15:13
um industry experts or your associations
15:15
you were left behind and frankly you
15:18
know probably maybe in a bit of you know
15:20
floundering so it’s just huge
15:24
um
15:25
you know to be successful
15:28
submit number two my third one would be
15:31
and this one seems easy and
15:34
um but
15:36
I I find a lot of folks don’t take this
15:39
step is to know your standards and
15:40
regulations and just make them really
15:43
accessible you should download the CMS
15:46
interpreted guidelines appendix L and
15:49
have it on your computer and read it and
15:53
and Know It uh you know know where
15:55
things are said you don’t have to
15:57
memorize it but you need to be familiar
15:59
with it you need to know your
16:01
accreditation standards and read that
16:03
handbook
16:04
and then depending on what state you are
16:06
what those regulations look like
16:09
um because I’m going to guarantee you
16:10
that you’re going to have a patient a
16:12
physician or a staff member challenge a
16:15
certain policy or procedure that you do
16:18
and you not you have to know where those
16:20
regulations are so you can you know be
16:24
able to you know either defend or maybe
16:26
even change a policy
16:28
um but you’d be surprised that folks
16:32
just you know they they don’t take that
16:34
time and if you’re a paper person
16:37
take it to a print pick the the file to
16:41
your printer and have them printed and
16:43
bind it so you can write all over it and
16:46
you know but just make sure you’re
16:48
familiar with it
16:52
um
16:52
you want me to keep diving in my next my
16:55
next yeah the next tip number four is
16:58
take advantage of networking and and
17:00
that’s kind of I’m going to build on my
17:02
experience when I join Casa
17:04
um it was just so huge for me and you
17:08
just really need to connect with others
17:09
in the industry and they’re going to
17:11
support you being successful so that
17:13
means attending meetings
17:15
um being part of online communities and
17:18
forums and using their experience to
17:21
help you one thing I found in the ASC
17:25
industry is there is this inherent
17:31
um philosophy to help each other even
17:35
across competitive boundaries
17:37
um folks will say no you know what this
17:39
didn’t work this this worked
17:42
um and that’s been my experience through
17:44
Casa is people really like to share
17:46
share what’s working in the in their
17:49
centers or their experiences so it’s a
17:52
huge resource to help you be successful
17:56
isn’t that great when you have an
17:58
industry or community that that has that
18:00
culture because I think what it does is
18:02
you know helps everybody learn faster
18:04
learn you know learn from each other and
18:06
you know kind of raise raise the overall
18:07
bar exactly and I just feel like it’s
18:10
kind of unique to the ASC World
18:12
um there is just there is kind of the
18:15
spawn there that um it and like I said
18:18
you may be a competitor but they still
18:20
there still is this innate of one
18:22
ability to want to share information
18:26
yeah and curious there Beth you
18:28
mentioned you know being a part of the
18:30
community and online forums for
18:32
networking best practice sharing any
18:34
online forums you found to be
18:36
particularly helpful or useful to bounce
18:38
ideas well I’m going to be selfish here
18:40
but
18:42
I know Casa has an online community
18:44
where so for us for California centers
18:47
they can share their questions and
18:49
concerns and and get those answers aska
18:52
has one as well and I mean and what’s
18:55
great about those is they’re so industry
18:58
focused that you can ask something
19:00
really in the weeds and and they’re
19:03
going to get it so those would be the
19:05
two I would recommend
19:08
perfect and I guess I just have one more
19:12
tip and
19:13
it’s just to seek all the opportunities
19:15
distinguish your surgery center and
19:17
yourself take it to the next level so
19:21
um there are a lot of opportunities out
19:23
there for additional certification so
19:27
you know I would research becoming cast
19:29
certified
19:31
um I would research having your
19:34
infection preventionists if it’s you or
19:37
if it’s someone else in your facility
19:39
becoming Cape certified
19:41
um there’s other Awards in the industry
19:44
for ases like Newsweek
19:46
um just publish the best ases across the
19:49
country and it’s pretty cool to be on
19:52
that list
19:53
and then um you know Casa has an annual
19:56
award that we do for ASCS and our
19:58
members just have to um you know apply
20:02
and demonstrate how they’re meeting
20:04
these pillars and um I just it’s very
20:07
cool opportunity to
20:10
motivate your staff
20:12
um get that additional recognition from
20:14
your ASC and
20:17
um
20:17
you know it helps on the marketing side
20:19
as well
20:22
yeah yeah that’s that’s fantastic so I
20:25
love this love those five tips just to
20:27
summarize to make sure I got them
20:28
because I was uh scribbling notes there
20:30
I heard number one involve the team
20:33
you know number two be a participant and
20:35
support the overall industry
20:38
um three know the rule book
20:42
for
20:43
um
20:44
take take advantage of kind of
20:45
networking opportunities and
20:46
opportunities to share best practice
20:48
best practices across peer groups
20:50
and then five seek out ways to
20:53
differentiate and distinguish your
20:55
Center and yourself did I get those yeah
20:56
absolutely yep that’s it
20:59
fantastic our listeners yeah
21:03
um so if I oh no that’s it I just gonna
21:05
say I think those apply to you know
21:07
someone new and just trying to you know
21:10
navigate their way through or somebody
21:12
that’s been in the industry for a while
21:14
you know you get so busy in your
21:16
day-to-day operations sometimes you you
21:19
kind of you know you know need to
21:21
re-center yourself and just you know
21:22
maybe think of some additional tips
21:26
absolutely
21:28
so final question for you and this is
21:30
one that we asked all of our guests
21:32
what is one thing that our listeners can
21:36
do this week to improve their surgery
21:38
centers so it’s I think this is an easy
21:40
one and I think it might surprise you
21:42
and surprise a lot of centers but I
21:46
would say have your ASC if they have not
21:49
joined they need to join their local
21:51
Chamber of Commerce
21:53
this is kind of like the easy button and
21:57
a lot of ASCS are missing out on this
21:59
they are providing Essential Health Care
22:02
in their community
22:03
and so you need to be tapped into your
22:06
community and what a great way to
22:09
establish connections with Business
22:11
Leaders
22:13
um in the elected officials
22:16
um in your community your um
22:19
your local Council or supervisors who
22:21
often go up the chain to the state or
22:25
even the federal level so huge
22:27
connections huge opportunity to build
22:30
your leadership skills and honestly when
22:35
they’re going to have conversations
22:37
about health care in the community now
22:39
you’re a part of it and it’s just it’s
22:42
just a huge opportunity and so easy
22:46
um for your ASC that uh that’s just um
22:50
you know a great marketing tool
22:55
really yeah yeah we we love you know
22:57
listing out all these these cheat codes
22:59
and um from time to time we’ll we’ll
23:02
share these out so we kind of get the
23:05
get the network and the crowdsourced
23:06
effect going so thank you so much
23:09
um Beth for for joining us really
23:10
enjoyed this conversation thank you for
23:12
having me it was my pleasure and um
23:15
really appreciate all that you doing
23:18
good night
23:19
[Music]
23:21
as always it has been a busy week in
23:24
healthcare so let’s Jump Right In the
23:26
Behemoth that is Google has had its eye
23:29
on the healthcare industry for some time
23:31
now and this month they officially
23:33
launched a new suite of digital Tools
23:35
around medical images
23:37
billions of medical images are scanned
23:40
each year and every time they are they
23:42
rely on human intelligence and
23:44
experience and interpretation to tell us
23:47
what the image means
23:49
the goal with Google’s new medical
23:51
imaging Suite is that you’ll be able to
23:54
leverage technology and automated
23:56
intelligence AI to uncover any insights
24:00
from the images which allows you to
24:02
hopefully arrive at diagnoses faster and
24:05
more accurately and it also will
24:07
hopefully lower the workload on
24:09
Radiologists so as with any new tech we
24:13
have plenty of early adopters and plenty
24:16
of Skeptics but in one use case
24:18
Hackensack Meridian Health in New Jersey
24:21
is working on building AI algorithms
24:23
that can predict metastasis in patients
24:27
with prostate cancer so while this new
24:30
piece of tech hasn’t made its way to
24:32
ASCS just yet it’s something we’ll want
24:35
to keep our eye on and start to think
24:36
about what use cases we might have for
24:39
it someday in the near future I know
24:41
thinking about bringing AI to something
24:44
as personal as Healthcare can be a
24:45
little intimidating but you know the
24:48
human element is not going anywhere it’s
24:51
just a matter of can we use a Ai and
24:53
other technology to improve efficiencies
24:56
so that is called Google’s new medical
24:59
imaging Suite
25:01
in our Second Story according to NBC
25:04
News flu season is off to an early start
25:07
this year a typical flu Seasons ramp up
25:10
in December and usually peak in February
25:13
but this year the CDC is starting to see
25:16
numbers Spike now which is about two
25:18
months earlier than usual which is why
25:20
some people are kind of sounding the
25:22
alarm and and getting concerned so why
25:25
is this happening last year flu vaccines
25:28
were down
25:29
as were flu cases
25:32
um as people were still distancing and
25:34
wearing masks and following uh coveted
25:36
protocols and unfortunately vaccine
25:39
fatigue is a real issue right now so flu
25:43
vaccinations are still trending down in
25:45
2022 as well which is not helping the
25:49
the issue here so all of that combined
25:51
makes this The Perfect Storm and is
25:54
setting us up for a severe flu season so
25:57
I know I don’t have to remind anyone in
25:59
the ASC industry the importance of
26:01
getting a flu vaccine so just consider
26:04
this more of a reminder and a heads up
26:06
if you haven’t heard this yet and just
26:08
keep your guard up and and stay safe
26:10
this flu season
26:12
our third story if you not if you have
26:15
not seen this yet uh Newsweek released a
26:18
list of America’s best Ambulatory
26:20
Surgery centers so according to the
26:23
Newsweek editor-in-chief Nancy Cooper
26:25
rankings are based on recommendations by
26:28
medical professionals and a careful
26:30
analysis of the facility’s performance
26:32
data so
26:34
um in their rankings there are 510 ASCS
26:38
and that made the list and just to give
26:40
you context there are a little over 6
26:43
000 Medicare certified surgery centers
26:46
in the country so 510 made the list and
26:50
we have 39 different states represented
26:53
uh as you can imagine California Texas
26:56
Florida and New Jersey had the most
26:59
recognized centers which tracks
27:01
considering they have the most centers
27:02
to choose from but congratulations are
27:05
in order for 90210 surgery medical
27:09
center located in Beverly Hills
27:11
California for being ranked as the
27:14
number one ASC in the country and
27:16
Gramercy Surgery Center located in New
27:19
York City was actually ranked number two
27:22
so that’s a huge accomplishment and
27:25
everyone who is recognized should be
27:26
extremely proud of their achievements
27:29
here and as always we’ll put the links
27:32
to all these articles in the episode
27:34
show notes so feel free to go look at it
27:37
um you know I threw it in an Excel
27:39
spreadsheet and you can kind of sort and
27:41
play around with different stuff they
27:43
also have different groupings where you
27:45
can sort by region and state and stuff
27:47
like that so again put this I will put
27:50
this link in the show notes so you can
27:52
go directly there and see the full list
27:53
of the 510 centers
27:57
and to end our News segment on a
27:59
positive note Lehigh Valley Health
28:02
Network released a 30-minute documentary
28:04
on YouTube a few weeks ago called the
28:07
strength to heal which features four
28:10
nurses who share their stories about
28:12
what they experienced during the
28:14
pandemic
28:16
um so I know that probably doesn’t sound
28:19
like a good news story right off the bat
28:21
but here’s why I think that it is this
28:25
documentary is extremely well done and
28:28
while yes it is a definitely a heavy
28:30
subject matter I think it but they do a
28:33
really good job of is bringing awareness
28:35
to what health care workers went through
28:37
and how much of a lasting impact health
28:40
care workers had on their patients and
28:42
their families and that non-healthcare
28:45
workers can have a glimpse into what it
28:47
was like and how grateful we should all
28:49
be for those who helped us get through
28:51
the thick of the pandemic so definitely
28:54
check it out it’s incredibly well done
28:56
and the stories are so moving and again
28:59
it’s called the strength to heal and
29:01
it’s on YouTube and we’ll put the link
29:03
in the show Notes too
29:05
and that news story officially wraps up
29:08
this week’s podcast thank you as always
29:10
for spending a few minutes of your week
29:12
with us make sure to subscribe or leave
29:15
a review on whichever platform you’re
29:17
listening from I hope you have a great
29:19
day and we’ll see you again next week
29:23
[Music]
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
0:07
we’ll start the episode off by sharing
0:10
an interesting conversation we had with
0:11
our featured guests and then we’ll close
0:13
the episode by recapping the latest news
0:15
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 to
0:23
[Music]
0:27
hi everyone here’s what you can expect
0:29
on today’s episode our host Nick Latz
0:33
sits down with Beth laboyer who is the
0:35
executive director of the California
0:37
Ambulatory Surgery Association Beth
0:40
joins us today to share tips for those
0:42
who have been promoted to ASC
0:44
administrators that have a clinical
0:46
background and can run an or but might
0:48
not be sure where to start when it comes
0:50
to running a business staying on top of
0:52
regulations properly Staffing and
0:55
everything in between
0:57
we’ll close the episode with a few news
0:59
stories we’ll start with a recap of
1:01
Google’s new AI solution called Medical
1:03
Imaging Suite share a little insight
1:06
into what the CDC is saying about this
1:08
year’s flu season talk about newsweek’s
1:11
latest report on America’s best
1:13
Ambulatory Surgery centers and of course
1:16
end the new segment with the positive
1:18
story about a new documentary called the
1:20
strength to heal hope everyone enjoys
1:22
the episode and here’s what’s going on
1:24
this week in surgery centers
1:29
thank you
1:31
that’s welcome to the show Nick so nice
1:33
to be here really appreciate it Beth if
1:36
you don’t mind can you tell our
1:37
listeners a little bit about yourself
1:39
how long have you been with the castle
1:40
organization and what’s your role sure
1:43
so uh yes I am the executive director of
1:47
Casa a more formerly known as the
1:50
California Ambulatory Surgery
1:52
Association and gosh I’ve been in that
1:55
role since 2004 which is kind of hard to
1:58
believe I can’t believe so much time has
2:00
passed but um my role there is basically
2:04
to implement the the Strategic plan for
2:07
the board and help our members succeed
2:11
as ases in California and you know that
2:15
that involves some advocacy and reggae
2:19
you know and developing relationships
2:22
with the regulatory bodies I’m making
2:24
sure they know who ASCS are and that
2:27
what we’re doing for their communities
2:29
with health care and driving down the
2:30
cost of care a lot of it has to do with
2:33
education because there’s so much
2:35
changing
2:37
um with surgery centers and so much you
2:40
know that ASCS need to keep current with
2:42
so I don’t develop a lot of education
2:44
programs
2:45
and you know lastly is kind of being a
2:47
Lifeline to our members so if they have
2:51
a question or need assistance with
2:54
something they know that they can reach
2:56
out to me in the casa team and we’ll get
2:58
back with them as quickly as possible
2:59
and try to give them an answer and if we
3:02
don’t know it we’ll we’ll find a you
3:04
know find others that do know the answer
3:06
for them so they can you know like I
3:09
said be the best they can be in their
3:11
surgery centers
3:12
fantastic I know so many surgery centers
3:15
and in our area and Community have
3:17
gotten so much value from your
3:18
organization over the years
3:20
and I want to to touch on a little bit
3:23
Beth as well your background you know
3:26
prior to cast that can you talk a little
3:29
bit about your experience in career
3:30
prior to cancer yeah so I’m a registered
3:33
nurse and gosh I started out in labor
3:36
and delivery and and in that role I
3:39
learned to circulate and scrub
3:42
C-sections so it was kind of a natural
3:44
transition for me to go to the hospital
3:47
at Hospital surgical department so I
3:50
spent years there and worked in multiple
3:52
Specialties both scrubbing and
3:54
circulating and ended up doing a little
3:57
management and became a certified nurse
4:00
of the uh perioperative nurse so cnor
4:03
and then
4:05
um gosh uh I took a role as The Clinical
4:10
Director for a local ASC in our area and
4:15
um felt very comfortable with that role
4:17
running the the or and the pre-op and
4:20
the recovery but I swear within a week
4:23
the business office manager left and it
4:27
felt like it was the next week I’m sure
4:29
it wasn’t this quick but the
4:30
administrator left and uh next thing I
4:33
knew I was in charge of all of the
4:36
different operations of the surgery
4:37
center not just the clinical operations
4:40
and I quickly felt like gosh you know a
4:43
fish out of water so much I needed to
4:45
know
4:46
and
4:48
um just great timing
4:50
um I attended a casa conference
4:53
shortly thereafter and at that time Casa
4:57
was all volunteer and
5:00
um I was just amazed they took me in
5:04
um the all of the the members there and
5:08
the contacts and here I was you know
5:12
needing to learn so much and they just
5:14
really helped me it was a true Lifeline
5:17
for me and uh you know I could pick up
5:20
the phone and call them and email and
5:23
just I kept learning and learning and I
5:26
of course became involved with the
5:28
association as a volunteer and it just
5:31
really taught me the value of being a
5:34
part of that community and being a part
5:38
of the State Association
5:40
and then
5:41
um gosh Casa grew and they wanted to
5:44
bring um
5:45
um payf some you know the paid staff and
5:48
I was you know having some life changes
5:51
it was very full time or very part-time
5:53
when I took this position but I ended up
5:55
being the executive director of Casa
5:59
um uh part-time and then now it’s full
6:02
time and we’re just like going gang
6:04
gangbusters
6:06
yeah that’s cool to hear how your career
6:09
kind of came full circle
6:11
um you know through kind of the ranks at
6:13
the surgery center and into the casa
6:14
organization to help you know fuel field
6:16
organizations growth that you mentioned
6:18
I want to touch on one aspect of your
6:21
background that you mentioned that that
6:23
I think will pertain to several of our
6:24
listeners around a clinical background
6:28
in a surgery center environment in
6:30
transitioning into more of the business
6:32
side and the administrative side because
6:35
it seems Seems like that is fairly
6:38
fairly common for for nurses and
6:40
clinical folks to make that transition
6:42
what what was it like to make that
6:45
transition at that time did you feel
6:48
well prepared or is it one of those
6:49
drinking from a fire hose type wow you
6:52
know what it was it was really
6:55
um
6:56
drinking from a fire hose is a great
6:59
example I felt like I was the only one
7:02
that
7:04
had gone this pathway and I think that’s
7:08
part of being my experience with Casa I
7:11
learned that I wasn’t the only one that
7:14
you know had this transition in fact
7:16
it’s more common than that and I mean
7:19
kind of um interesting is I just got off
7:22
the phone with somebody who 20 years
7:25
nursing experience and all Val they’re
7:27
running a surgery center and
7:30
um you know all of their concerns and
7:32
feeling uncomfortable and and and
7:35
needing to know so much and I was like
7:38
well that’s interesting I’m talking
7:39
about that today and here here we are
7:41
you know I just I literally just hung up
7:43
the phone and so you would think I mean
7:46
in all this time that’s passed that we
7:48
would have
7:49
um you know more preparation or a
7:51
different pathway but I think it’s just
7:53
how it works you’re
7:56
um you know a good clinical leader and
7:59
next thing you know that you’re taking
8:01
on more of these operations and more of
8:03
these responsibilities
8:06
yeah so it sounds a little bit like
8:07
trial by fire and uh and I’m interested
8:11
in that kind of training and education
8:13
piece and you you reference that you
8:15
Leverage The the casa organization at
8:17
that time maybe tell me a little bit
8:19
about what kind of training and
8:22
resourcing and and networking was
8:24
available when you made the transition
8:26
and maybe contrast to that to what you
8:29
see you know available now is there a
8:31
difference in in education and
8:33
experience that’s out there I think
8:35
there are a few more resources and
8:38
certainly the industry has grown that
8:41
they’re you know you have more
8:43
opportunities but there still is the
8:46
same need so when you’re coming from you
8:51
know a clinical background you’ve got I
8:54
mean more than often you know you’re
8:56
really experienced with the or and boy
8:59
you know how to run the the operating
9:00
room you know you know who’s the strong
9:03
people to put in Specialties for to make
9:06
the a case that room go great for the
9:08
day and how to manage acute patient
9:11
Acuity and the schedule and pre-op and
9:14
recovery room but when you get to the
9:16
surgery center
9:17
you and particularly if you’re coming
9:20
from an inpatient environment
9:22
you have all these responsibilities that
9:25
you just that you might have resources
9:28
for in the hospital you’ve got your
9:31
Regulatory and accreditation you have
9:34
your uh running A Sterile Processing
9:36
Department you’ve got uh an infection
9:39
prevention program in the hospital
9:41
that’s usually outsourced by a different
9:43
department and here you are responsible
9:46
and in ASC
9:49
um you have I.T right and all of a
9:53
sudden you’re responsible for I.T and
9:55
you know gosh more than often than that
9:57
that’s really not your expertise and
9:59
then you talk about
10:01
um
10:02
crop the quality program and risk
10:05
management and then you have physician
10:07
peer review and credentialing and then
10:09
we haven’t even got into the business
10:10
side with contract negotiations and
10:13
revenue cycle and billing and and even
10:16
just how to read a financial statement
10:18
so it’s it is just really it’s really
10:22
overwhelming and
10:24
um I guess the one thing I have to say
10:26
is there’s so much
10:28
that you just can’t do this alone
10:31
you’ve got to look in look at your team
10:34
and you’ve got to be able to all work
10:37
together so you can work build on your
10:40
strengths
10:41
so you can be the best ASC that you can
10:43
be
10:45
absolutely
10:48
um and do you think there are certain
10:50
aspects of your clinical background that
10:54
influence how you managed all those
10:56
aspects of the ASC as an administrator
10:59
um yes I think
11:03
you know if you’re coming from an or you
11:05
you you
11:07
um you’ve dealt particularly in the
11:08
inpatient environment you’ve dealt with
11:11
having to think quickly on your feet and
11:14
dealing with emergency situations and
11:16
being able to prioritize
11:18
so often a lot of that comes into you
11:22
know like being organized and and some
11:25
of those things but then there’s a lot
11:27
of leadership skills that you just you
11:29
know some of them are inherent and some
11:32
of them are not and so you need to you
11:35
know you need to be able to build on
11:36
those
11:39
absolutely that’s great
11:42
um one of the things we like to do on
11:44
the podcast Beth is make sure we’re kind
11:46
of given practical tips and tricks to
11:50
our listeners that’s what our our
11:51
listeners really like to engage with and
11:53
learn from and so you know if if you’re
11:57
you know speaking to that that section
11:58
of the audience that is familiar with
12:01
the operating room right like you
12:03
mentioned knows how to run the operating
12:05
room
12:06
it is maybe new to or thinking through
12:08
hey how would I apply the skill set or
12:10
experience to managing a whole Surgery
12:12
Center what would be a couple of tips
12:15
and tricks that you would provide you
12:16
know what I think I would come away I’ve
12:18
been thinking this with five tips so
12:21
um the one thing I’m gonna just build on
12:23
what I just said is involving your team
12:26
because you can’t be successful alone
12:29
and you’ve got to look at the big
12:31
picture and
12:33
um you know be transparent and so
12:35
looking at your team’s strengths and
12:38
delegating those
12:40
um you know you may see someone that’s
12:42
going to be great to be a great
12:43
infection preventionist and Empower them
12:46
to take that role on and Thrive there
12:50
um same with copy
12:52
um you might have someone who’s really
12:53
techy and you know you plan to pull them
12:56
into some of the I.T stuff or
12:59
gosh some of this stuff that is really
13:02
outside your expertise you might want to
13:04
Outsource and bring in an industry
13:06
expert to help with that but you can’t
13:09
do it alone you need to build your team
13:11
and when I S and I think something
13:13
that’s incredible with that is it builds
13:18
camaraderie it builds ownership amongst
13:21
the staff to have the ASC succeed and um
13:25
in this in these days where we’re having
13:28
um Staffing challenges which it also
13:32
helps to build longevity folks that want
13:35
to stay and and and not leave the
13:38
surgery center so that’s tip number one
13:40
which which is increasingly important
13:42
today exactly right which everybody’s
13:44
having these Staffing shortage and
13:46
challenges and how do we kind of
13:48
motivate and Inspire staff members to
13:50
stay so I always Circle those tips that
13:53
help with uh kind of employee you know
13:56
retention and satisfaction so number one
13:58
involve your team I think the second one
14:00
supporting the industry there are so
14:03
many factors out there that are
14:05
affecting your surgery center and your
14:07
operations that you have no control over
14:09
uh your regulations uh your
14:12
reimbursement
14:14
um you know things around Staffing
14:15
regulations so you need to support your
14:18
industry that’s kind of working with
14:20
those uh challenges for example aska is
14:25
uh you know working every day to uh to
14:28
work with Medicare and you know the
14:31
federal regulations and that’s hugely
14:34
impactful for your ASE and then if
14:38
you’re in a state you’re going to have
14:39
different state regulations affecting
14:42
your surgery center so you need to be
14:43
part of a community that is supporting
14:46
your industry because you don’t want to
14:49
be have something happen to you that’s
14:51
going to negatively impact your Center
14:54
and I think you know the pandemic
14:56
brought to light
14:58
how important it is to be plugged in to
15:02
to both of those different areas because
15:04
things were changing every day and you
15:07
know you have the federal stuff coming
15:08
down in the state and if you weren’t
15:10
plugged into your
15:13
um industry experts or your associations
15:15
you were left behind and frankly you
15:18
know probably maybe in a bit of you know
15:20
floundering so it’s just huge
15:24
um
15:25
you know to be successful
15:28
submit number two my third one would be
15:31
and this one seems easy and
15:34
um but
15:36
I I find a lot of folks don’t take this
15:39
step is to know your standards and
15:40
regulations and just make them really
15:43
accessible you should download the CMS
15:46
interpreted guidelines appendix L and
15:49
have it on your computer and read it and
15:53
and Know It uh you know know where
15:55
things are said you don’t have to
15:57
memorize it but you need to be familiar
15:59
with it you need to know your
16:01
accreditation standards and read that
16:03
handbook
16:04
and then depending on what state you are
16:06
what those regulations look like
16:09
um because I’m going to guarantee you
16:10
that you’re going to have a patient a
16:12
physician or a staff member challenge a
16:15
certain policy or procedure that you do
16:18
and you not you have to know where those
16:20
regulations are so you can you know be
16:24
able to you know either defend or maybe
16:26
even change a policy
16:28
um but you’d be surprised that folks
16:32
just you know they they don’t take that
16:34
time and if you’re a paper person
16:37
take it to a print pick the the file to
16:41
your printer and have them printed and
16:43
bind it so you can write all over it and
16:46
you know but just make sure you’re
16:48
familiar with it
16:52
um
16:52
you want me to keep diving in my next my
16:55
next yeah the next tip number four is
16:58
take advantage of networking and and
17:00
that’s kind of I’m going to build on my
17:02
experience when I join Casa
17:04
um it was just so huge for me and you
17:08
just really need to connect with others
17:09
in the industry and they’re going to
17:11
support you being successful so that
17:13
means attending meetings
17:15
um being part of online communities and
17:18
forums and using their experience to
17:21
help you one thing I found in the ASC
17:25
industry is there is this inherent
17:31
um philosophy to help each other even
17:35
across competitive boundaries
17:37
um folks will say no you know what this
17:39
didn’t work this this worked
17:42
um and that’s been my experience through
17:44
Casa is people really like to share
17:46
share what’s working in the in their
17:49
centers or their experiences so it’s a
17:52
huge resource to help you be successful
17:56
isn’t that great when you have an
17:58
industry or community that that has that
18:00
culture because I think what it does is
18:02
you know helps everybody learn faster
18:04
learn you know learn from each other and
18:06
you know kind of raise raise the overall
18:07
bar exactly and I just feel like it’s
18:10
kind of unique to the ASC World
18:12
um there is just there is kind of the
18:15
spawn there that um it and like I said
18:18
you may be a competitor but they still
18:20
there still is this innate of one
18:22
ability to want to share information
18:26
yeah and curious there Beth you
18:28
mentioned you know being a part of the
18:30
community and online forums for
18:32
networking best practice sharing any
18:34
online forums you found to be
18:36
particularly helpful or useful to bounce
18:38
ideas well I’m going to be selfish here
18:40
but
18:42
I know Casa has an online community
18:44
where so for us for California centers
18:47
they can share their questions and
18:49
concerns and and get those answers aska
18:52
has one as well and I mean and what’s
18:55
great about those is they’re so industry
18:58
focused that you can ask something
19:00
really in the weeds and and they’re
19:03
going to get it so those would be the
19:05
two I would recommend
19:08
perfect and I guess I just have one more
19:12
tip and
19:13
it’s just to seek all the opportunities
19:15
distinguish your surgery center and
19:17
yourself take it to the next level so
19:21
um there are a lot of opportunities out
19:23
there for additional certification so
19:27
you know I would research becoming cast
19:29
certified
19:31
um I would research having your
19:34
infection preventionists if it’s you or
19:37
if it’s someone else in your facility
19:39
becoming Cape certified
19:41
um there’s other Awards in the industry
19:44
for ases like Newsweek
19:46
um just publish the best ases across the
19:49
country and it’s pretty cool to be on
19:52
that list
19:53
and then um you know Casa has an annual
19:56
award that we do for ASCS and our
19:58
members just have to um you know apply
20:02
and demonstrate how they’re meeting
20:04
these pillars and um I just it’s very
20:07
cool opportunity to
20:10
motivate your staff
20:12
um get that additional recognition from
20:14
your ASC and
20:17
um
20:17
you know it helps on the marketing side
20:19
as well
20:22
yeah yeah that’s that’s fantastic so I
20:25
love this love those five tips just to
20:27
summarize to make sure I got them
20:28
because I was uh scribbling notes there
20:30
I heard number one involve the team
20:33
you know number two be a participant and
20:35
support the overall industry
20:38
um three know the rule book
20:42
for
20:43
um
20:44
take take advantage of kind of
20:45
networking opportunities and
20:46
opportunities to share best practice
20:48
best practices across peer groups
20:50
and then five seek out ways to
20:53
differentiate and distinguish your
20:55
Center and yourself did I get those yeah
20:56
absolutely yep that’s it
20:59
fantastic our listeners yeah
21:03
um so if I oh no that’s it I just gonna
21:05
say I think those apply to you know
21:07
someone new and just trying to you know
21:10
navigate their way through or somebody
21:12
that’s been in the industry for a while
21:14
you know you get so busy in your
21:16
day-to-day operations sometimes you you
21:19
kind of you know you know need to
21:21
re-center yourself and just you know
21:22
maybe think of some additional tips
21:26
absolutely
21:28
so final question for you and this is
21:30
one that we asked all of our guests
21:32
what is one thing that our listeners can
21:36
do this week to improve their surgery
21:38
centers so it’s I think this is an easy
21:40
one and I think it might surprise you
21:42
and surprise a lot of centers but I
21:46
would say have your ASC if they have not
21:49
joined they need to join their local
21:51
Chamber of Commerce
21:53
this is kind of like the easy button and
21:57
a lot of ASCS are missing out on this
21:59
they are providing Essential Health Care
22:02
in their community
22:03
and so you need to be tapped into your
22:06
community and what a great way to
22:09
establish connections with Business
22:11
Leaders
22:13
um in the elected officials
22:16
um in your community your um
22:19
your local Council or supervisors who
22:21
often go up the chain to the state or
22:25
even the federal level so huge
22:27
connections huge opportunity to build
22:30
your leadership skills and honestly when
22:35
they’re going to have conversations
22:37
about health care in the community now
22:39
you’re a part of it and it’s just it’s
22:42
just a huge opportunity and so easy
22:46
um for your ASC that uh that’s just um
22:50
you know a great marketing tool
22:55
really yeah yeah we we love you know
22:57
listing out all these these cheat codes
22:59
and um from time to time we’ll we’ll
23:02
share these out so we kind of get the
23:05
get the network and the crowdsourced
23:06
effect going so thank you so much
23:09
um Beth for for joining us really
23:10
enjoyed this conversation thank you for
23:12
having me it was my pleasure and um
23:15
really appreciate all that you doing
23:18
good night
23:19
[Music]
23:21
as always it has been a busy week in
23:24
healthcare so let’s Jump Right In the
23:26
Behemoth that is Google has had its eye
23:29
on the healthcare industry for some time
23:31
now and this month they officially
23:33
launched a new suite of digital Tools
23:35
around medical images
23:37
billions of medical images are scanned
23:40
each year and every time they are they
23:42
rely on human intelligence and
23:44
experience and interpretation to tell us
23:47
what the image means
23:49
the goal with Google’s new medical
23:51
imaging Suite is that you’ll be able to
23:54
leverage technology and automated
23:56
intelligence AI to uncover any insights
24:00
from the images which allows you to
24:02
hopefully arrive at diagnoses faster and
24:05
more accurately and it also will
24:07
hopefully lower the workload on
24:09
Radiologists so as with any new tech we
24:13
have plenty of early adopters and plenty
24:16
of Skeptics but in one use case
24:18
Hackensack Meridian Health in New Jersey
24:21
is working on building AI algorithms
24:23
that can predict metastasis in patients
24:27
with prostate cancer so while this new
24:30
piece of tech hasn’t made its way to
24:32
ASCS just yet it’s something we’ll want
24:35
to keep our eye on and start to think
24:36
about what use cases we might have for
24:39
it someday in the near future I know
24:41
thinking about bringing AI to something
24:44
as personal as Healthcare can be a
24:45
little intimidating but you know the
24:48
human element is not going anywhere it’s
24:51
just a matter of can we use a Ai and
24:53
other technology to improve efficiencies
24:56
so that is called Google’s new medical
24:59
imaging Suite
25:01
in our Second Story according to NBC
25:04
News flu season is off to an early start
25:07
this year a typical flu Seasons ramp up
25:10
in December and usually peak in February
25:13
but this year the CDC is starting to see
25:16
numbers Spike now which is about two
25:18
months earlier than usual which is why
25:20
some people are kind of sounding the
25:22
alarm and and getting concerned so why
25:25
is this happening last year flu vaccines
25:28
were down
25:29
as were flu cases
25:32
um as people were still distancing and
25:34
wearing masks and following uh coveted
25:36
protocols and unfortunately vaccine
25:39
fatigue is a real issue right now so flu
25:43
vaccinations are still trending down in
25:45
2022 as well which is not helping the
25:49
the issue here so all of that combined
25:51
makes this The Perfect Storm and is
25:54
setting us up for a severe flu season so
25:57
I know I don’t have to remind anyone in
25:59
the ASC industry the importance of
26:01
getting a flu vaccine so just consider
26:04
this more of a reminder and a heads up
26:06
if you haven’t heard this yet and just
26:08
keep your guard up and and stay safe
26:10
this flu season
26:12
our third story if you not if you have
26:15
not seen this yet uh Newsweek released a
26:18
list of America’s best Ambulatory
26:20
Surgery centers so according to the
26:23
Newsweek editor-in-chief Nancy Cooper
26:25
rankings are based on recommendations by
26:28
medical professionals and a careful
26:30
analysis of the facility’s performance
26:32
data so
26:34
um in their rankings there are 510 ASCS
26:38
and that made the list and just to give
26:40
you context there are a little over 6
26:43
000 Medicare certified surgery centers
26:46
in the country so 510 made the list and
26:50
we have 39 different states represented
26:53
uh as you can imagine California Texas
26:56
Florida and New Jersey had the most
26:59
recognized centers which tracks
27:01
considering they have the most centers
27:02
to choose from but congratulations are
27:05
in order for 90210 surgery medical
27:09
center located in Beverly Hills
27:11
California for being ranked as the
27:14
number one ASC in the country and
27:16
Gramercy Surgery Center located in New
27:19
York City was actually ranked number two
27:22
so that’s a huge accomplishment and
27:25
everyone who is recognized should be
27:26
extremely proud of their achievements
27:29
here and as always we’ll put the links
27:32
to all these articles in the episode
27:34
show notes so feel free to go look at it
27:37
um you know I threw it in an Excel
27:39
spreadsheet and you can kind of sort and
27:41
play around with different stuff they
27:43
also have different groupings where you
27:45
can sort by region and state and stuff
27:47
like that so again put this I will put
27:50
this link in the show notes so you can
27:52
go directly there and see the full list
27:53
of the 510 centers
27:57
and to end our News segment on a
27:59
positive note Lehigh Valley Health
28:02
Network released a 30-minute documentary
28:04
on YouTube a few weeks ago called the
28:07
strength to heal which features four
28:10
nurses who share their stories about
28:12
what they experienced during the
28:14
pandemic
28:16
um so I know that probably doesn’t sound
28:19
like a good news story right off the bat
28:21
but here’s why I think that it is this
28:25
documentary is extremely well done and
28:28
while yes it is a definitely a heavy
28:30
subject matter I think it but they do a
28:33
really good job of is bringing awareness
28:35
to what health care workers went through
28:37
and how much of a lasting impact health
28:40
care workers had on their patients and
28:42
their families and that non-healthcare
28:45
workers can have a glimpse into what it
28:47
was like and how grateful we should all
28:49
be for those who helped us get through
28:51
the thick of the pandemic so definitely
28:54
check it out it’s incredibly well done
28:56
and the stories are so moving and again
28:59
it’s called the strength to heal and
29:01
it’s on YouTube and we’ll put the link
29:03
in the show Notes too
29:05
and that news story officially wraps up
29:08
this week’s podcast thank you as always
29:10
for spending a few minutes of your week
29:12
with us make sure to subscribe or leave
29:15
a review on whichever platform you’re
29:17
listening from I hope you have a great
29:19
day and we’ll see you again next week
29:23
[Music]
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