← Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
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- [00:02]
A
@ Athenahealth, we know your ambulatory practice wants healthier a healthier business, healthier care teams and healthier patients. But the complexities of modern healthcare tech make it hard for you and your care teams to focus on what matters most. That's where athenahealth can help our AI native all in one solutions reduce administrative burdens, streamline billing and payments, and deliver critical insights when clinicians need it most. That means fewer clicks, more time for patients, and stronger bottom Practicing medicine is complex, but running a practice can be that much simpler. With Athenahealth, see how simpler is healthier@athenahealth.com.
- [00:44]
B
Hello, this is Francesca Matthews with the Becker's ASC Review Podcast. I am thrilled to be joined today by Dr. Brian Nwanunu, an orthopedic surgeon at Texas Joint Institute. Brian, thank you so much for being here today.
- [00:57]
C
Thank you, thank you.
- [00:59]
B
All right, to start off, could you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your background?
- [01:05]
C
Yes, of course. So My name is Dr. Brian Wanunu. I'm an orthopedic surgeon right now practicing in the North Texas area. So just north of Dallas in McKinney and Allen. I am from Dallas, Texas or I was raised here. Came when I was very young, I was about one year old or so. Went to college in Atlanta, Georgia Morehouse College. I then attended Georgetown University for my Master's in physiology. I stayed in Washington D.C. and went to Howard University College of Medicine for medical school. Came back to Texas for my five year residency in Fort Worth and then I went and did a one year extra fellowship training in adult reconstruction or hip and knee replacements down in Houston at Baylor College of Medicine. And now I'm back in Dallas practicing as an orthopedic surgeon.
- [01:55]
B
Excellent. Thank you for the background there. Next question. Here is what are the top three trends you're following in healthcare and ASCS today?
- [02:05]
C
So I have been very very very closely watching the trends and seeing where the trajectory of our of our career is going right now. And I think the top three things that I see currently are pretty much the rise of smart surgery. That's things that are like data driven decision making, that's artificial intelligence, that's machine learning. They' reshaping like the perioperative planning. They're helping us to predict analytics on how to anticipate complications, personalize post op rehab and even optimize like implant selections. I personally use that as far as on my robotic side of hip and knee replacements by getting CAT scans and really planning out the patient's Surgery even before we even make any cuts. Essentially we're moving from experience based now to data enhanced and is helping young surgeons like myself and everyone else kind of come together at an equal playing field. In addition to the smart surgery ride, I've also seen outpatient orthopedic surgery. I think a lot of this was driven by Covid. Of course, during the COVID 19, no hospitals were taking out patients because of the overwhelming patients that were in the inpatient areas. And so if you wanted your surgery done, most people were having to either do it on an outpatient basis or go home when they started doing that. Most patients found out that they were doing great at home and they didn't need to stay 1, 2, 3 days or so. And now ASCs are handling cases pretty much completely outpatient, which were once unthinkable in the hospital setting. So things from total joint replacements like myself, spine surgery, even complex reconstructions are done on an outpatient basis. And thanks to advances in anesthesia, minimally invasive techniques, same day recovery protocols, perioperative pain protocols, we're experiencing improved outcomes and patient satisfaction as they're able to go home. Additionally, I like the digital continuity of care that I'm seeing. This comes in many forms, but some of them can be like smart watches or even there's implantable devices that I've used in my implants that will tell us what's going on with the patient, how many steps they're taking, how they're moving, if they're going to therapy, or even let us know if there's a rise in temperature to pre warn us if there's a concern for infection or so. And that integration between remote monitoring, wearable sensors, virtual physical therapy is closing the loop between surgery and recovery. And patients aren't just disappearing after discharge. They're like streaming real time data that helps us to track their healing, flag complications and fine tune recovery in ways that weren't possible before.
- [04:43]
B
Absolutely. That definitely echoes some of the conversations I'm having over here at Becker's as far as just what's evolving in the space we talked about. You mentioned a lot of things, but what are you most excited about right now?
- [04:55]
C
Honestly, I'm most excited about how technology is like humanizing orthopedic care. You know, we used to think of like everyone gets one size that fits all. Now things are so patient promoted or so patient centered that I mean the specifics down to the implant sizes, their balancing, even if they have allergies, you know, are taken into consideration. And we used to Think that just tech meant just replacing touch points. Now it's like amplifying them. And again, whether it's using AI to pre plan a perfect implant or leveraging like augmented reality, I've seen these AR goggles that are really great during surgery, but these innovations just kind of help focus on what matters the most and that's connecting with the patient directly. On a lighter note as well, I'm genuinely excited about the smart or like we're moving towards operating rooms that learn from every case, capture analytics in real time, and even not to scare anyone, even operate on their own. And I've seen a couple of these, these robots that literally the surgeon is in the room but his hands off and they're doing the whole surgery. So not quite there yet, but I'm excited to see where that goes in the future.
- [06:07]
B
No, yeah, absolutely. I really like what you said there about, you know, not replacing touch points, kind of amplifying them and enhancing, enhancing that. So yeah, definitely. Super interesting. And how are you and your, your organization thinking about growth over the next 12 months?
- [06:24]
C
Well, to me, growth isn't all just about numbers. Of course I want to be busier. I want to be able to provide care to more patients, I want to perform more surgeries, of course I do. But it's not just about numbers, it's about scaling excellence. And for me, over the next year I'm focused on pretty much three pillars. I want tech enabled expansion, so I want to leverage digital platforms for patient engagement, pre op optimization, telehab and expand access beyond just the physical walls. Also want data driven quality. I want building performance dashboards that translate surgical metrics and outcomes into actionable insights. This will ensure that every new ASC that we open delivers consistent evidence based care. And thirdly, I want kind of collaborative innovation. I want to be able to partner with device companies, startups, AI of course, and developers to pilot new technologies that improve efficienc efficient outcomes. Growth, when it comes with surgeons, technologies and administrators together can make the patients do wonderful.
- [07:29]
B
Absolutely. And that is actually all I have for you today, Brian, unless there's anything else you wanted to leave us with.
- [07:37]
C
Well, you know, I'll just say that again, just piggybacking off of what we just spoke about. You know, I see growth as not just doing more surgeries, but as doing smarter surgeries for more people with better outcomes. I really want to get to the point to where every surgeon with every patient is completely happy and completely successful and we limit anything that could make patients worse than they were. Before?
- [08:03]
B
Absolutely. Yeah. Again, definitely. Just resonates with the conversations we're having here every day. Thank you so much for joining us today. It's been a pleasure speaking with you, and I look forward to connecting with you again in the future.
- [08:16]
C
Excellent. Thank you so much.
- [08:19]
A
At athenahealth, we know your ambulatory practice wants healthier a healthier business, healthier care teams, and healthier patients. But the complexities of modern healthcare tech make it hard for you and your care teams to focus on what matters most. That's where athenahealth can help our AI native all in one solutions reduce administrative burdens, streamline billing and payments, and deliver critical insights when clinicians need it most. That means fewer clicks, more time for patients, and stronger bottom lines. Practicing medicine is complex, but running a practice can be that much simpler with Athenahealth. See how simpler is healthier@athenahealth.com.