In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice speaks with SCA Health Vice President for Talent Management Vicki Heinz about the importance of creating a culture of inclusion among ASC staff. In a conversation recorded live following Heinz’s presentation on that same topic at ASCA 2023 in Louisville, Kentucky, this past spring, Prentice and Heinz discuss how a culture of inclusion has become a vital part of an organization’s ability to recruit and retain a talented workforce, particularly among younger workers. In explaining why employers should measure their progress and be prepared to overcome resistance to change, Heinz also describes how the right inclusion practices can improve an organization’s performance and add to its bottom line.

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, Mandy Hawkins, CASC, CAIP, president of the ASCA Board, talks with Debra Stinchcomb, CASC, president of the Board of Ambulatory Surgery Certification (BASC), regarding the Certified Administrator Surgery Center (CASC) credential and the Certified Ambulatory Infection Preventionist (CAIP) credential for ASC administrators and senior staff.  In this timely and important presentation, Mandy and Debra discuss upcoming enrollment periods for both certifications, the course curriculums, fees, renewals and how both certifications can benefit ASC personnel interested in advancing their careers in the ASC community.

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with nimble solutions Chief Executive Officer Nader Samii during a break at ASCA’s annual conference in Louisville, Kentucky, this past May. Prentice invited Samii, whose company was the platinum sponsor of this year’s event, to join him in a discussion about the current market conditions he is seeing across the ASC community, as well as the increasing investment occurring in emerging technologies such as robotics. Prentice and Samii also talk about the rebranding of National Medical Billing Services to nimble solutions and the services the new company can provide to ASCs.

With the demand for outpatient surgery on the rise, forecasters are concerned about the future supply of physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals. In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Board President Mandy Hawkins talks with David Acosta, MD, the chief diversity and inclusion officer of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). Their wide-ranging conversation looks at the need for a larger, more representative healthcare workforce that can meet the demands of our nation’s aging and increasingly diverse population. It also addresses the makeup of current medical school admissions, the need to raise awareness about medical careers in primary and secondary schools, new initiatives that target disadvantaged communities and the need for additional government support for medical education and training.

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, Kara Newbury, ASCA regulatory counsel and director of government affairs, leads a discussion about the Outpatient Surgery Quality and Access Act of 2023 (H.R. 972/S.312) with her colleagues David Opong-Wadee, ASCA manager of legislative and political affairs, and Maia Kunkel, ASCA manager of government affairs. The episode provides a summary of the key provisions of the legislation and the ways it would benefit both patients and ASCs. It also looks at the Washington, DC, fly-in and lobbying event conducted February 28 and March 1 this year as part of ASCA’s 2023 National Advocacy Day. Seventy ASCA members from 31 states met with members of Congress and their staff to discuss ASCA’s legislative goals and the many ways ASCs serve their constituents and communities. 

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice sits down with surgery center payment policy expert Naya Kehayes for an informative discussion about the migration of surgical codes from the inpatient-only list to the list of procedures Medicare will reimburse in hospital outpatient departments (HOPD) and onto the ASC Covered Procedures List (ASC-CPL). They discuss a wide range of topics, including recent migration trends, future code migration (including orthopedic and cardiovascular procedures) and ASCA’s continuing efforts to make the approval process at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services more transparent. Naya is a partner and the ASC Practice Leader for ECG Management Consultants and has more than 30 years of professional experience in healthcare. She is a trusted adviser to ASCA on a wide range of issues, particularly in matters before the federal agencies that oversee surgery centers, and a member of ASCA’s Government Affairs Committee. 

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with ASCA Board Member Lisa Austin, RN, CASC, about succession planning for ASCs. Austin, an ASC development and operations expert, is a member of the ASCA Board of Directors, a past president of the Colorado Ambulatory Surgery Center Association, a registered nurse and a CASC-certified administrator. This short, highly informative program offers valuable insights regarding the inevitable need to respond to leadership transitions in both facility management and physician partners. Austin’s strategies and advice apply equally to both independent ASCs and centers affiliated with a management company. 

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with HST Pathways Chief Innovation Officer Gavin Fabian about the challenges, and potential solutions, for surgery centers that perform procedures that require the use of medical devices or surgical implants. As ASCA continues its efforts to add additional codes to the outpatient procedure list and secure appropriate reimbursement for all procedures, including those involving medical devices and surgical implants, this discussion focuses on strategies surgery centers can employ to better manage the financial aspects of these types of procedures. HST Pathways is a leading provider of surgery center management and software solutions and an ASCA affiliate. 

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice talks with ASCA Board President Mandy Hawkins about ASCA’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Initiative. The ASCA Board of Directors approved a resolution supporting this effort at the association’s 2022 annual conference in Dallas, Texas, and work has been underway for several months. Prentice and Hawkins discuss the three parts of ASCA’s DEI Initiative: the ASC workforce, patient populations and the cultural competence of the ASC community. They also describe the work being done by 12 ASCA volunteers and ASCA staff to develop recommendations for the ASCA Board and, ultimately, the entire ASCA membership for future DEI advocacy and continuing education.

In this episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, Bill Prentice, ASCA chief executive officer, and Alex Taira, ASCA regulatory policy and research manager, talk with Jigar Patel, MD, chief medical officer for the for-profit and emerging markets at Oracle Cerner. Their discussion focuses on electronic health records (EHR) in ASCs. Oracle Cerner is a leading supplier of health information technology products and services worldwide, including EHR systems, and an ASCA affiliate. Dr. Patel shares his experience with the use of informatics and technology across providers, their current EHR adoption efforts and the outlook for the application and use of technology in the ASC space.