Jeremy Statton, MD, serves as an orthopedic surgeon at Atlanta-based Arthritis & Total Joint Specialists.
Dr. Statton will serve on the panel "OR Efficiency, It's About Time" at Becker's 19th Annual Spine, Orthopedic & Pain Management-Driven ASC Conference. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place in Chicago from June 16-18.
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Question: What issues are you spending most of your time on today?
Dr. Jeremy Statton: In joint replacement surgery, we see cases moving to the ASC environment. There are two focus areas for physicians. The first is how to do this clinically. We are constantly trying to improve our clinical protocols to make it easier for our patients to go home the same day as the surgery. The other aspect that physicians must learn is the business side of the ASC. Our group made this transition five years ago, but we have learned so much from the business side that we are reorganizing ourselves to improve this work.
Once surgeons transition to the ASC, efficiency becomes an even more important topic. In the hospital setting, we felt like we could not control how efficiently the system would run. In the ASC, we have more control and we are asking ourselves all the time what we can change. The ASC is also a much smaller environment, so it is easier for us to enact change once we see the need for it. Total joints right now are a lot of fun.
Q: What are your top challenges and how will they change over the next 12 months?
JS: The biggest acute challenge is managing staff. The global market has changed immensely in the past two years and we see this as well in our hiring and retaining staff. I don't think anyone knows where this will go and how we will solve the problems. I think we will have to develop creative ways to retain good employees or train new ones. What will happen over the next 12 months will be interesting indeed.
Q: How are you thinking about investments and growth in the next two years?
JS: Our biggest investments right now are in people. The ability to hire good people and keep them has changed immensely over the last two years. We used to take outstanding staff for granted, and now that has changed. We are working on finding new ways to show our staff how much we appreciate them. Our ASC can't compete with the kind of pay travelers get today, so we have to find other ways to show appreciation. We will definitely continue to expand our push into the ASC by moving our current hospital cases and opening new surgery centers. Still, without the right people, these efforts will not work.
Q: What are you most excited about right now?
JS: I believe it is an unbelievable time to be in total joint replacement surgery. We have and will continue to move patients to the ASC setting. Along with that is the innovation that is occurring as well. Multiple companies are being developed to make the surgeon's job easier and improve our patient outcomes. We even question ideas that we thought were absolute truths in the past and even ask totally new and different questions. The future is very exciting.