Leslie Jebson, Administrator of the Orthopedics and Sports Medicine Network at Prisma Health - Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

Summary4 min read

Becker’s Healthcare Podcast – Episode Summary

Guest: Leslie Jebson, Administrator, Orthopedics and Sports Medicine Network, Prisma Health
Host: Francesca Matthews
Release Date: October 18, 2025

Overview

This episode features a dynamic conversation between Francesca Matthews and Leslie Jebson, Administrator of Orthopedics and Sports Medicine at Prisma Health. The discussion centers around current trends in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), emerging technologies such as AI and robotics in healthcare, Prisma Health’s strategies for growth, and the shifting landscape of musculoskeletal care delivery in the Southeast.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Leslie Jebson’s Background

Experienced Healthcare Executive: 25 years spanning finance, operations, and clinical roles in both academic and private settings.
Current Role: Oversees orthopedics and sports medicine at Prisma Health, with 225 clinicians providing statewide comprehensive musculoskeletal care.
- “For the past two years, I’ve been with Prisma Health in South Carolina... overseeing orthopedics and sports medicine for the entire state.” – Leslie Jebson [00:22]

2. Top Trends in Healthcare and ASCs

Resurgence of Retail ASCs:
- Rapid growth after elimination of Certificate of Need in South Carolina.
- New development efforts by various systems, with a focus on single-specialty ASCs (ophthalmology, GI, orthopedics) positioned for success.
- “There’s the same movement again... with the elimination of the Certificate of Need in South Carolina. There’s a proliferation of efforts and plans by an array of healthcare systems to develop ASCs.” – Leslie Jebson [01:27]

3. Excitement Around Technology: AI and Surgical Robotics

AI Integration:
- Enhanced scheduling, workflow automation, and metrics analysis.
- Leverages AI as an adjunct for administrative efficiency, not as a clinical diagnostic tool.
Surgical Robotics:
- Anticipates increase of high-volume, robot-assisted outpatient surgery centers.
- “I’m really, really excited about artificial intelligence and surgical robotics. I think you’re going to see more of that enter into the ambulatory arena.” – Leslie Jebson [02:45]
Direct Partnership with Industry:
- Push for closer collaboration between physicians and vendors for case management and cost predictions.

4. Real-Life AI Applications at Prisma Health

Upcoming Implementation:
- Launching AI-driven solutions for appointment scheduling and prior authorization as of October 1st across ambulatory and ASC practice areas.
- Working with multiple vendors to support these changes.
- “October 1st we’ll be rolling out a comprehensive AI solution for all of our appointment scheduling... doing some work with ASCs.” – Leslie Jebson [04:17]
Focus on Ambient AI:
- Useful in transcription and administrative support.
- Skeptical about AI replacing clinicians in imaging analysis anytime soon.
- “The key is to use it as an adjunct... serving as an adjunct to the clinician and helping them work smarter.” – Leslie Jebson [05:04]

5. Growth Strategy Over the Next 12 Months

Market Position:
- Dominant musculoskeletal market share in South Carolina (90% pediatric orthopedics).
Sustainable Expansion:
- 5% outpatient visit growth over 24 months, onboarding 17 clinicians this summer, and 25+ active recruitments.
- Serves patients from every county in the state.
- “It’s just sustained, predictable growth and an imperative to have seamless orchestration in how we provide musculoskeletal services amongst the care delivery settings.” – Leslie Jebson [06:02]
Innovations in Care Settings:
- Interest in nanosuites and migrating minor procedures (carpal tunnel, knee scopes) increasingly to the office setting.
- Focus on quality care at the lowest possible cost.
- “Procedures that will migrate more to the office setting, which would seem unfathomable a decade ago.” – Leslie Jebson [07:02]

6. Future of Orthopedics

Regional Optimism:
- Bright prospects for orthopedics especially in the Southeast.
- Emphasis on embracing technology and supporting clinicians with state-of-the-art facilities.
- “The future is bright for orthopedics nationally. The future is very bright for orthopedics in the Southeast...” – Leslie Jebson [08:07]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On ASC Market Shifts:
“What’s old is new again.” – Leslie Jebson [01:27]
On AI in Healthcare:
“AI is going to help us get even slicker on our scheduling and analyzing key metrics in real time more than retrospective analysis of performance.” – Leslie Jebson [02:45]
On Growth Strategy:
“We want to expand carefully, a sustainable growth.” – Leslie Jebson [06:12]
On Clinical Migration to Office Setting:
“For me, we’re thinking, where can we provide the highest quality care at the lowest possible cost for our patients?” – Leslie Jebson [07:38]

Timestamps for Key Segments

Guest Introduction & Background: 00:16 – 01:07
Key Trends in ASCs: 01:14 – 02:32
Exciting Technology Trends (AI, Robotics): 02:45 – 04:03
AI Implementation at Prisma Health: 04:03 – 05:57
Growth Plans and Service Expansion: 06:02 – 07:53
Future Outlook & Closing Thoughts: 08:07 – 08:35

Conclusion

In this concise but insightful episode, Leslie Jebson shares a visionary yet pragmatic approach to musculoskeletal care. Listeners gain actionable perspectives on the evolution of ASCs, the practical deployment of AI and robotics, and the imperative of sustainable growth in a rapidly shifting healthcare landscape. Prisma Health’s proactive embrace of technology and patient-centered innovation positions it as a leader in the Southeast and a model nationwide.

Loading summary

Transcript20 lines

[00:00]
A
Hello, this is Francesca Matthews with the Beckers ASC Review podcast. I'm thrilled to be joined today by Leslie Jebson, administrator of the Orthopedics and Sports Medicine Network at PRISMA Health. Leslie, thank you so much for being here today.
[00:14]
B
Pleasure is all mine. Thank you for the opportunity.
[00:17]
A
Of course. To start off, could you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your background?
[00:22]
B
I'd be happy to. So I've been a practicing healthcare executive for the past 25 years. I've worked all over the country in a broad array of roles, from finance to operations to clinical, and both in academic settings and in private practice settings. Currently, for the past two years, I've been with PRISMA Health in South Carolina, where I have the great fortune of overseeing orthopedics and sports medicine for the entire state. 225 clinicians specialing in sports, specializing in comprehensive musculoskeletal care with outpatient rehabilitation services as well.
[01:01]
A
Excellent. I'm actually from South Carolina, so always nice to hear others from the South.
[01:08]
B
Yeah, we take care of Clemson, South Carolina State, and the University of South Carolina. Do you have any allegiances by chance?
[01:14]
A
I do. I am a gamecock. My mom went to usc, but I'm from Charleston, so I'm more of a city slicker. And what are the top three trends that you're following in healthcare and ASCS today?
[01:27]
B
Yeah, well, you know, healthcare is a perpetually dynamic environment. We know this as it pertains to outpatient surgery centers. You know, I say what's old is new again. When I started my career over 20 years ago, there was a proliferation of retail ASCs that were predominantly multi specialty. And then there was some growth and then some consolidation and closures and hospital systems acquiring them. And at least in this part of the country, there's the same movement again with the elimination of the Certificate of Need in South Carolina. There's a proliferation of efforts and plans by an array of healthcare Systems to develop ASCs. Not all of them will be successful for a broad array of reasons, but there's. There's certainly high growth taking place in the southeast with retail ASCs. And so I think those that are singularly special in the way of ophthalmology or GI endo orthopedics, you know, will be best positioned to be successful.
[02:32]
A
Mm, yeah, definitely been following a lot of those Certificate of Need updates. And there's a lot of interesting stuff going on in the Southeast overall. What are you most excited about right now?
[02:45]
B
Excited is some opportunity to showcase the great depth and expertise that we have in musculoskeletal care in my, in my current role. On a broader level, I'm really, really excited about artificial intelligence and surgical robotics. I think you're going to see more of that enter into the ambulatory arena. There's no doubt from robotics doing, you know, high volume robotic assisted surgery centers. I think we'll, we'll continue to proliferate. I think AI is going to help us get even slicker on our scheduling and analyzing key metrics in real time more than retrospective analysis of performance. And those are going to help. You know, what I'll call F1 high performance teams, Surgical teams, which I can talk to you a little bit more about. But I'm most excited about AI and its applications. Surgical robotics would be, would be the top topics and then the evolving landscape with our ability to partner directly, you know, physicians directly partnering with industry vendors to really get precise case management cost predictions. I think that's, that's going to be a growing movement as well.
[04:03]
A
Yeah, absolutely. Lots to, to sort of look forward to there. I'm curious, what are some of the ways that you all have been incorporating AI or evaluating how you might incorporate, incorporate AI at your practice, if any?
[04:17]
B
Yeah, no, absolutely. We are in the process. October 1st we'll be rolling out a comprehensive AI solution for all of our appointment scheduling both in our ambulatory clinics and doing some work with ASCs. So streamlining the pre certification workup process, the scheduling process, prior authorization research for procedures will be, will be AI associated. So we, I've got two or three vendors that we're working with and we're excited to be kicking that off in time for our new fiscal year.
[04:55]
A
Very cool. Yeah, there's so much buzz around AI right now. It's always just really nice to get real insights from administrators as to, you know, what's working and what's not.
[05:04]
B
The key is to use it as an adjunct. Right. I think there's some fear and I think it's very reasonable that there's fear about loss of jobs and things of that nature. But instead I would submit to you that ambient AI is helping clinicians with transcription. I, I can't, you know, can't understand the evolution that's taken place in, in that space and continues to, to go forward. So I don't see AI, and maybe I'm naive, but I don't see AI taking over reading imaging studies anytime soon. But really assisting, serving as an adjunct to the clinician and helping them work smarter. They already work Hard enough as it is. So just to help work smarter. And for us, our focus is largely on administrative functions and how we can automate that. We're really staying out of the clinical space from an AI standpoint.
[05:58]
A
Yeah, absolutely. And how are you thinking about growth over the next 12 months?
[06:03]
B
Yeah, well, with my orthopedics and sports medicine hat on, with my market hat on, we're enjoying. We're market dominant. We have well over half the state market share for musculoskeletal. We have about 90% of the market share for pediatric orthopedics for the state. So we're largely dominant. We want to expand carefully, a sustainable growth. So we have about 5% outpatient visit growth for the past 24 months. So consistent there. We're onboarding about 17 more clinicians this summer, with the remainder coming on board next month. And we have about 25 more active recruitments across the board, across our entire market, which is 21 counties is our primary service area. But we, we saw patients from every county in South Carolina last year. So it's. It's just sustained, predictable growth and an imperative to have seamless orchestration in how we provide musculoskeletal services amongst the care delivery settings. Right. What makes the most sense for our patients? Should they be cared for overnight in the hospital? Should they be cared for in the ambulatory surgery setting? And I think we've got our eye on the future, which is nanosuites and looking at procedures that will migrate more to the office setting, which would seem unfathomable a decade ago, but, you know, carpal tunnels, diagnostic knee evaluations, the scopes, those are. Those are starting to migrate to the office setting. And so we want to be out in front of that as well. So, you know, for me, I'm thinking. And that goes beyond the next 12 months, but for me, we're thinking, where can we provide the highest quality care at the lowest possible cost for our patients? And. And that's what we're wrapping our heads around and positioning ourselves for.
[07:53]
A
Absolutely. I think everything you mentioned there just really resonates with other things I've heard from other administrators and ASC physicians, especially the sustainable growth aspect. Is there anything else here that you want to share that we haven't touched on yet?
[08:08]
B
No. The future is bright for orthopedics nationally. The future is very bright for orthopedics in the Southeast, and it's brightest in South Carolina and, and Tennessee and North Carolina. So we're excited about our continued growth journey and how we can embrace technology and have cutting edge facilities in support of the wonderful clinicians that I work for. So, you know, we've got a very bullish outlook.
[08:35]
A
Excellent. Well, that is all I have for you today. Leslie, 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.
[08:45]
B
Always a pleasure to be part of Becker's for the last. You know, Scott met me well over a decade ago and, and I was able to publish some articles for him and, and participate in some of the conferences and, and Beckers has become a powerhouse. And so we're, we're certainly appreciative to be a part of it. And thank you so much for giving me time today.