Full Transcript for Artificial Intelligence Comes to Surgery Centers

works. 00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:48.879 Once Copilot does the draft, you absolutely have the ability to look it over and make the decision, have the human in the loop to make sure that you decide what you wanted to say. 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:52.079 And speaking of Copilot, I have another practical way. 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:55.360 It can also help you outside of drafting emails. 00:04:55.519 --> 00:04:57.199 Maybe it can help organize your day. 00:04:57.360 --> 00:05:06.959 For example, let's say you've been off for a bit, maybe it's over the weekend, and you come in on Monday morning and you want to find out what's been happening over the weekend in all of your emails. 00:05:07.040 --> 00:05:07.839 What's your priorities? 00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:09.120 How do you get your day started? 00:05:09.279 --> 00:05:16.560 So a simple thing you can do is just go into Copilot and say, let me know what I've missed over the past 48, 72 hours. 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:23.120 And it will scan those emails, come up with what's the high priorities, what are the things that you really need to focus on. 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:26.160 So it helps you with your efficiency. 00:05:26.399 --> 00:05:32.480 And if you haven't tried this, I have another pearl, and that has to do with agenda or minute preparation. 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:35.600 And if you haven't tried it, I would say give it a try. 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:42.879 As we all know, we have to be responsible for committee meeting minutes, whether it be the governing body, quality meetings, staff meetings. 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:46.000 We're always putting together agendas and then we have to do the minutes. 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:56.000 So the next time we're preparing for an agenda, for example, for your quality meeting, for your governing body, just say to Copilot, put my agenda together for me. 00:05:56.240 --> 00:06:03.600 I think you're going to be pleasantly surprised because you're going to come up with an agenda that is probably about 80% complete. 00:06:03.759 --> 00:06:16.639 And it's really going to help you with your efficiency because you're going to be able to go through it, tweak what it is that you want to change, have that human in the loop, making sure that you make the decision on what's in that agenda. 00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:20.079 But it's going to get you there so much faster. 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:22.560 And I've really focused a lot on Copilot. 00:06:22.639 --> 00:06:29.600 And I just want to bring up that you can also use some other AI tools such as chat, GPT, or Claude that are available. 00:06:29.839 --> 00:06:32.079 And let's say you have to draft a document. 00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:33.680 And this is very helpful. 00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:45.120 Whether that document be a policy, whether it be a job description, a competency checklist, an orientation checklist, for example, think about using that AI tool to assist you. 00:06:45.279 --> 00:06:50.720 So, Mandy, all you really have to do to start the chat is ask the tool to draft a document. 00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:59.360 For example, I want to create a job description for a surgical tech for an ASC environment, and it's an ortho-specific center. 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:05.279 The more detail you can give in the prompts, the better on how it's going to come up with the first draft. 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:10.240 But I even learned recently that sometimes I'm not sure what I want to make for my prompts. 00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:16.079 So I will just say, draft me a job description and provide me with some clarifying questions. 00:07:16.319 --> 00:07:20.000 And then the tool will give me the clarifying questions to answer. 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:25.360 I can come up with a draft, once again, is about 80 to 90% there. 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:31.439 I can tweak that document, use my human in the loop, my decision making on how I want it to look. 00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:36.160 And it works much faster than if I have to just sit down with a blank piece of paper. 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:40.720 So I hope those are some really practical tips for an administrator, Mandy. 00:07:40.959 --> 00:07:42.800 I think those are all great tips. 00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:45.279 And I love that you called out the human in the loop. 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:53.759 The human in the loop gives you that intelligence and judgment and oversight while working with AI, and it also improves accuracy. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:07:56.800 It makes me think of self-driving car like Waymo. 00:07:57.040 --> 00:07:59.519 It just didn't just start driving on its own. 00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:09.040 A human was in the loop providing data that was used to train and guide the models, teaching it what it was supposed to do so it would have that safe driving behavior. 00:08:09.279 --> 00:08:16.480 I hope some of our members are using or beginning to try these AI tools you talked about in their everyday work or even home life. 00:08:16.800 --> 00:08:18.959 They absolutely can save you time, Andy. 00:08:19.040 --> 00:08:23.680 And as a leader, one of the things we can certainly benefit from is saving time. 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:24.800 Saving time. 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:26.000 That's what we all need. 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:30.720 Becky, we have to take a short break to hear a few words from our podcast sponsor. 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:32.960 Stand by and we'll be right back. 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:42.080 This recording is being brought to you by Surgery Partners, a leading owner and operator of ambulatory surgery centers with more than 200 locations nationwide. 00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:54.960 Surgery Partners collaborates with ASC leaders and physicians to acquire, develop, and optimize surgery center operations and helps ASCs scale efficiently, strengthen performance, and drive long-term growth? 00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:58.159 To learn more, visit surgerypartners.com. 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:15.039 Becky, let's talk about business associate agreements

or BAAs, which should be well known to ASC administrators, but take on an added level of sensitivity when using AI tools that are coming in contact with PHI. 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:23.440 Do administrators need to know about BAAs, even with some of these free AI tools that don't require an enterprise agreement? 00:09:23.759 --> 00:09:25.039 That's a great question. 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:37.200 And here's the one thing I'd really want the listeners to walk away with, and that is paying for an AI tool does not mean automatically that you have a business associate agreement in place. 00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:39.360 They're really two different things. 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:42.159 And you should never assume that you have one. 00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:52.320 You should always verify that it's in place before putting in any proprietary information or patient personal health information in any AI tool or chat. 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:58.320 Absolutely, someone has to confirm that there's a BAA in place for that specific product. 00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:00.720 And it can't be just that we have an account. 00:10:00.799 --> 00:10:03.440 It's for what account and what plan. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:05.440 It has to be very specific. 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:16.399 Certainly when it comes to a free Chat GPT or personal Claude or even your own personal co-pilot account, none of those come with a business associate agreement. 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:20.399 Even a paid personal subscription does not count. 00:10:20.639 --> 00:10:26.240 It has to be a business or an enterprise account, specifically one that is configured for HIPAA. 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:32.159 And where I can really see this going wrong for an organization isn't really one of those dramatic breaches. 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:41.360 To me, it's someone on your team is just trying to be efficient and ultimately ends up doing something that gives your organization some exposure. 00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:45.360 For example, let's say they're drafting a response to a patient complaint. 00:10:45.519 --> 00:11:03.200 Maybe a family member has complained about their patient care experience, and they just want to paste that information very quickly into Chat GPT to help reframe what they're saying, but they accidentally forget to remove the patient's name or some other portion of the demographics. 00:11:03.360 --> 00:11:09.840 That information is now part of the large language model and in that overall chat, and you have some exposure. 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:19.679 So you can see it's really just a simple mistake, which is absolutely why you need to have some guardrails in place, such as policy depicting AI governments. 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:28.480 So my most practical advice is to make sure you always strip out any identifying or proprietary information before entering into a chat. 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:34.080 Because once it's in the chat, it's part of that large language model and it's out there. 00:11:34.320

--> 00:11:37.759 Becky, I really like that you said confirm it's in place. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:41.440 That's such an important piece for all of our members to understand. 00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:49.840 When you're getting a new contract, as well as with vendors that have now added automation, review and make sure it is there. 00:11:50.159 --> 00:11:58.559 Hopefully, as we continue to build on our AI working group, we'll be able to provide some more education and resources for our members to get these guardrails in place. 00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:08.720 Well, Mandy, I think a lot of ASCs are struggling with knowing what is the right thing to do and not even knowing where to begin from the governance perspective. 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:12.960 So the effort on behalf of this work group will certainly be well appreciated. 00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:14.159 Thank you so much. 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:19.600 We've talked about document prep and protecting against HIPAA violations. 00:12:19.840 --> 00:12:29.360 I know that you've also had some personal experience with AI agentics that have become lifelike, intuitive, and engaging in conversations with patients. 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:34.080 Can you share some personal interaction that you've had with your AI agent? 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:36.960 This one was very, very exciting for me. 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:49.840 I had a trained AI agent that was being used to complete the pre-operative phone call that, as we know, is typically done by the pre-op nurse prior to a procedure or a phone call in the ASC environment. 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:53.519 Or in some cases, we go out to a portal and we complete that information. 00:12:53.759 --> 00:12:57.840 Well, I decided to give it a try using the trained AI agent. 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:03.919 And when I received the call, it sounded very lifelike and it was very engaging. 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:06.240 And in my case, it was a woman's voice. 00:13:06.399 --> 00:13:10.399 She asked me all of the required questions of your typical pre-op phone call. 00:13:10.559 --> 00:13:15.919 And my goal really was to try to stump this woman, to stump the AI agent. 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:19.600 I wanted to see what would happen if I asked a lot of questions. 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:21.840 So I really had a lot of fun with this. 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:25.679 For example, I told her, geez, I know I'm on some medications. 00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:30.000 One is for my blood pressure, and I'm not sure if it starts with a P or a T. 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:36.320 And the agent responded back with me on some very clarifying questions, and I was not able to answer them again. 00:13:36.399 --> 00:13:38.320 And she said, You know what, Becky? 00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:39.440 And she used my name. 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:41.279 She said, You know what, Becky? 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:45.039 I'm going to make a note of this and I'll have the nurse call you back and discuss it. 00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:47.919 And I thought, oh, that's a great answer. 00:13:48.159 --> 00:13:51.039 And she went out again and I kept trying to stump her in other ways. 00:13:51.120 --> 00:13:56.879 And I also remember I asked her about MH when she asked about having a history of that. 00:13:57.120 --> 00:13:58.720 I said, I don't understand what you mean. 00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:00.000 Can you help me understand? 00:14:00.159 --> 00:14:03.840 And she responded very appropriately with a definition. 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:11.360 And when I said, I still don't understand what you're talking about, at that point, she said, You know, Becky, I think we're going to have the nurse call you back and help answer that. 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:12.960 And we finished the call. 00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:22.000 And right towards the end of the call, where I thought the agent really went above and beyond, is started to frame for me all of the questions that I had asked. 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:26.240 And she said, These are the questions that the nurse is going to give you a call back on. 00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:31.200 And she hit every one of them, even the ones that I had forgotten. 00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:39.919 So I felt very comfortable that the person that I was talking to, which was a trained agent, was a caring person, felt like it was a real person. 00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:46.799 And this isn't an actual ASC practice management software that we have available to all of us if we want to use it. 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:51.039 Wow, this can really help with efficiency and effective use of staff time. 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:54.399 I thoroughly enjoyed learning about this and being a part of the call. 00:14:54.480 --> 00:14:57.360 And to frame it all up, it was exciting. 00:14:57.679 --> 00:14:59.840 I also have had the same experience. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:12.320 I find it fascinating, the quality of their responses, how they change their rhythm and tone, almost how graceful they are when they're addressing you and not interrupting. 00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:19.440 So it's nice to see that you can really train that agent to do exactly what you want it to do, keeping that human in the loop. 00:15:19.679 --> 00:15:34.000 When we kicked off the working group, we had an executive speak to us from Google Health, and they had a lot of experience in this with pre-calling patients and how they've trained their agent to have those conversations, and it's been really successful for them. 00:15:34.159 --> 00:15:40.960 So it's nice to hear that people outside of the ASC space are using this and that's extra support for us to do the same. 00:15:41.200 --> 00:15:43.120 Those are some great insights, Mandy. 00:15:43.200 --> 00:15:53.679 And actually, when you were talking about it, it's amazing how when you listen to those trained agents, you have a preconceived notion that it's going to sound like a robot, that there's going to be uncomfortable gaps. 00:15:53.919 --> 00:15:56.080 That's not how it really

works out. 00:15:56.399 --> 00:15:56.960 It isn't. 00:15:57.120 --> 00:15:58.559 It is not how it works out. 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:07.360 Well, Becky, I would be remiss if I had you on the podcast without giving you a chance to tell us to what's the latest at the ASC Quality Collaboration. 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:09.840 I know you have a new assessment tool. 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:12.320 What are your responses looking like? 00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:15.519 And how are you thinking about AI and ASC Quality? 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:16.720 Well, thank you, Mandy. 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:24.639 The ASC Quality Collaboration has recently just finished their annual ASC Safety and Quality Assessment, which is complimentary. 00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:26.639 It's free, complimentary. 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:30.559 So any ASC across the country can help participate in this. 00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:38.240 And what you're doing is you're benchmarking your center against national performance on quality and safety best practices. 00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:49.919 And this year we had it open for a six-week period of time and we had over 700 submissions, which compares very positively to a little under the 400 submissions we had the year prior. 00:16:50.080 --> 00:16:51.440 So that's fantastic. 00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:55.519 And I want to thank all of you who participated in that assessment. 00:16:55.679 --> 00:16:59.600 And if you happen to miss it this year, it is available next year. 00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:07.920 And if you're concerned you might miss the window for opportunity next year, go out to the ASCQC website, which is ascquality.org. 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:16.160 And on that website, you will be able to put in your contact information so you can receive an email next year and be reminded of that. 00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:29.839 Also, with respect to the ASC Quality Collaboration, we're excited about our annual membership only quality conference that's going to occur later this month, which is really a great way for our membership to collaborate and network with one another. 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:36.640 And we'll actually have the opportunity to connect with some key regulatory agencies during the conference like CMS and CDC. 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:41.119 And then, Mandy, to answer the second part of your question, how can AI work with quality? 00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:44.319 Think AI can really shine in this area. 00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:47.440 And I think about it in a number of perspectives. 00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:50.319 The first is pattern spotting. 00:17:50.559 --> 00:18:00.960 Instead of just staring at a spreadsheet of incident reports or infection surveillance logs, you can really ask AI to help you look for patterns that might be surfacing. 00:18:01.119 --> 00:18:04.079 Patterns related to time of days, staff combination. 00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:07.759 But be careful what you put out there because you have to make sure it's protected. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:11.200 It can also help you with documenting your PI project. 00:18:11.359 --> 00:18:17.759 It seems like whenever I'm ready to start documenting a project, I have a blank page, I can't think about where do I begin. 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:21.519 So use a chat to just put your notes in and get you started. 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:25.519 I recently had an experience where I was doing this myself. 00:18:25.680 --> 00:18:30.480 I was struggling with something that I was trying to write up, and it was a great PI project. 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:35.039 So I put some notes in on what I had measured, what were some of my findings. 00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:39.759 I was surprised to see how it came out with a great first draft for me. 00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:43.680 Once again, 80% there that I just had to turn into a study. 00:18:43.920 --> 00:18:46.160 You can also use it for a quick literature scan. 00:18:46.319 --> 00:18:52.000 Let's say you have a committee that says to you, I want you to check into unplanned transfers or same-day cancellations. 00:18:52.240 --> 00:19:01.839 It can help pull together what research has been done on this and list you with references and resources that you can tap into to make sure that it's valid information. 00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:10.079 So I would emphasize again that it's going to get you 80 to 90% of the way there, but it always requires that human in the loop. 00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:11.680 And that human is you. 00:19:11.920 --> 00:19:16.000 So you have to make the first draft into the final draft, whatever you're working in. 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:20.319 So I'm going to conclude this all, Mandy, with saying, why not try out an AI tool? 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:24.160 Dip your toes in and see what it can do for you. 00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:30.400 Because I think you'll be pleasantly surprised to see how it can help you with your efficiency. 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:31.920 I agree with you 100%. 00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:38.480 I challenge our members, give yourself five to 10 minutes a day and try something new. 00:19:38.720 --> 00:19:41.759 And Becky, I want to thank you for spending time with me today. 00:19:41.920 --> 00:19:43.599 I love catching up with you. 00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:47.200 You are a true legend in our industry, and we're lucky to have you. 00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:50.559 Thank you for sharing all of your knowledge and insights on AI. 00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:52.880 And we will continue to pick your brain. 00:19:53.039 --> 00:19:58.559 And thank you for all the hard work that you and Nina Gwenes do at the ASC Quality Collaboration. 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:02.000 It's such important work in support of the ASD community. 00:20:02.319 --> 00:20:04.559 Mandy, I thank you for having me today. 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:10.079 And I so appreciate working with you and the fact that you reached out to me for my insights. 00:20:10.160 --> 00:20:22.799 And I also want to thank Ask and the work group for all the work that is being done on these AI initiatives to provide the guidance and the guardrails that we as the ASC industry absolutely need going forward. 00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:23.680 Thank you. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:36.880 Now, before concluding, I would like to acknowledge the support of our podcast sponsor, Surgery Partners, a leading operator of surgical facilities and ancillary services with more than 200 locations in 33 states. 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:44.960 Surgery Partners offers multiple types of healthcare services that deliver high quality health care in a convenient and cost effective manner. 00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:48.319 To learn more, visit surgerypartners dot com.