Tara Good-Young, MSHA, CASC, CEO, PDI Surgery Center

Summary

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Episode Overview

Podcast: Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Guest: Tara Good-Young, MSHA, CASC, CEO, PDI Surgery Center
Host: Grace Lynn Keller
Recording: Live at the 31st Annual Business and Operations of ASCs
Date: December 21, 2025

In this episode, Tara Good-Young, an accomplished leader with over 40 years in healthcare and deep expertise in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), discusses the dynamic ASC market, the role of technology and AI, strategic collaboration opportunities, and practical advice for ASC leaders navigating a rapidly changing landscape. The conversation focuses on trends, operational strategies, and thoughtful leadership in outpatient healthcare.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Introduction and Background (00:35–01:21)

• Tara Good-Young’s Experience:
  • 42 years in healthcare; 20 years in leadership roles.
  • Extensive work in multidisciplinary ASCs (maxillofacial, oral, plastics).
  • Current focus: Pediatric dental and oral reconstruction.

“Becker's is one of my favorite conferences to attend.”
— Tara Good-Young (00:53)

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2. Market Forces and Trends in ASC Growth (01:21–02:39)

• Market Context:
  • The US ASC market projected to reach $60.8B by 2030.
• Key Drivers:
  • CMS Policy: More outpatient procedures shifting from hospitals to ASCs.
  • Pricing Pressure:
    • Expectation of declining prices due to increased ASC adoption.
    • Importance of robust payer negotiations and market analysis.
  • Profitability and Saturation:
    • Not every new opportunity will be profitable; market share and oversaturation are risks.
    • Value and reputation trump simply following trends.

“Just because the shiny new thing for you to possibly be able to do in the ASC doesn't necessarily mean that it'll be profitable.”
— Tara Good-Young (02:06)

“It may quickly be a race to the bottom on price rather than pivoting to take a look at where you can deliver the best value, customer service for your reputation.”
— Tara Good-Young (02:16)

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3. Technology Integration: AI & Operational Efficiency (02:39–04:38)

• AI Applications:
  • Automation of repetitive, menial tasks (data entry, phone call triage) for increased staff engagement.
  • Aggregation and analysis of operational data for better business intelligence.
• EHR Optimization:
  • AI-driven tools to reduce “click time” for staff and doctors.
  • Potential to alleviate bureaucratic frustration, improve staff satisfaction, and create more face-to-face time with patients.
• Business Impact:
  • Positive patient experience drives referrals and growth.

“If AI can do the basic level of receiving and triage of calls, then to the human that really needs to handle it... you can load in a lot of your data and have it aggregated rather than spending all of this time putting it into spreadsheets.”
— Tara Good-Young (03:07)

“If you can alleviate some of those bureaucratic frustrations... you're going to have better satisfaction as well. It's going to free them up to have more of that face-to-face patient time, which is where your value of customer service and your return patient is going to come from.”
— Tara Good-Young (03:41)

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4. Collaboration: Opportunities with Providers and Vendors (04:38–06:15)

• Partnership Trends:
  • 60% of health systems considering ASC joint ventures.
• Vendor Relationships:
  • Vendors are information conduits, offering broader market insights.
  • Strategic vendor collaboration aids in sustainable procurement, supply chain transparency, and rate negotiation.
  • COVID has highlighted the need for backup vendors and robust supply planning.

“Collaborating with your vendors is a really great way to know what's out there in the market. They'll hear from others and they'll have inside information—not the secret information—but you'll have a bigger look on a SWOT, wider outside your surrounding market...”
— Tara Good-Young (05:01)

“Just-in-time ordering is no longer just in time and you always really need to have a backup plan vendor for your mission critical items...”
— Tara Good-Young (05:45)

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5. Final Thoughts and Practical Leadership Advice (06:15–07:13)

• Strategic Patience:
  • Caution against “chasing the shiny new thing.”
  • Regulatory, reimbursement, and authorization challenges often accompany new procedures.
  • Leaders must anticipate and plan for the up-front costs and training required for new technology or service lines.

“Sometimes it's not always best to be first. When a lot of new regulations are rolled out, new procedures are released to outpatient, it still can be a gray area of how it's billed, how it's going to be reimbursed, how will it be handled, what's the pre-authorization pain points going to be because you need to be prepared for all of that...”
— Tara Good-Young (06:27)

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Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes

• On market expansion:

  "Just because the shiny new thing for you to possibly be able to do in the ASC doesn't necessarily mean that it'll be profitable."
  (Tara Good-Young, 02:06)

• On technology and staff satisfaction:

  "If you can alleviate some of those bureaucratic frustrations... you're going to have better satisfaction as well."
  (Tara Good-Young, 03:41)

• On vendor collaboration:

  "You get those vendors to work together to give you better pricing and sustainable supply."
  (Tara Good-Young, 06:06)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:35–01:21: Introduction to Tara Good-Young and her ASC leadership background.
• 01:21–02:39: Discussion on major ASC market trends and growth factors.
• 02:39–04:38: The role of AI and advanced technology in ASC operations.
• 04:38–06:15: The importance of provider and vendor collaborations.
• 06:15–07:13: Closing advice for ASC leaders—caution and strategic planning.

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Conclusion

This episode provides a concise, experience-driven roadmap for ASC leaders. Tara Good-Young highlights the importance of strategic focus, the proper pace of innovation, and the central role of technology and partnerships in building sustainable ambulatory surgery operations. Her advice centers on preparing for complexity, prioritizing excellent patient experiences, and building strong collaborative networks to thrive in the growing ASC sector.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Is Grace Lynn Keller with the Beckers Healthcare Podcast and we're recording live at the 31st annual Business and Operations of ASCS. I'm currently joined by Tara Goodyoung who is the CEO at PDI Surgery Center. So thanks for being here. I'll have you kick us off by sharing a little bit more about yourself and your work in the ASE space.

[C]

Thanks for having me. Really appreciate it. Becker's is one of my favorite conferences to attend a little about myself so 42 years in healthcare in the last 20 in leadership have run different ambulatory surgery center practices with maxillofacial oral surgery, plastics and now currently in Pediatrics for pediatric dental oral reconstruction.

[B]

Wonderful. Well, let's start our conversation with the ASC market because in the US this is projected to reach $60.8 billion by 2030 and continues to experience strong year over year growth. So from your perspective, what are the most significant trends in market forces driving this expansion and how should ASC leaders be preparing today?

[C]

One of the biggest influences I see in our ASC space and growth is going to be CMS's continued expansion of outpatient procedures being moved from hospital setting to the ASC setting. Now with that there's going to be the expectation of downward pressure on pricing problem with that that we'll need to be able to be prepared for is going to be doing a lot of payer negotiations and knowing what your margins are and what your market is. Just because the shiny new thing for you to possibly be able to do in the AS see doesn't necessarily mean that it'll be profitable. If it's already oversaturated in a shouldering market to you, you may not have room for market share and it may quickly be erased to the bottom on price rather than pivoting to take a look at where you can deliver the best value customer service for your reputation.

[B]

Absolutely. And from AI and robotic surgeries to advanced EHR systems, technology remains both a make or break factor and a critical driver of ASC operations at so how do you see deeper tech integration shaping the way ASCs deliver care and manage their business over the next few years.

[C]

I think you can really start to leverage AI to do many of the menial and tedious repetitive tasks, whether it's helping with managing phone call handling. Still, in a very humanistic sense, I think you'll have less turnover of staff if you have staff that feel like they're doing meaningful work. If AI can do the basic level of receiving and triage of calls, then to the human that really needs to handle it as well, you can load in a lot of your data and have it aggregated rather than spending all of this time putting it into spreadsheets to drill down your own data, make your own pivot tables. That's very time consuming. The best thing about what that can bring to the table is AI is really being directed now to integrate with your ehr, which then is a lot less click time for your staff and for your doctors, which has been one of the biggest complaints since EMRs came out. So if you can alleviate some of those bureaucratic frustrations, have people feel like they're doing what they want to do and that makes a difference, you're going to have better satisfaction as well. It's going to free them up to have more of that face to face patient time, which is where your value of customer service and your return patient is going to come from. Because whether it's the employer, the insurer or the referring provider, if that patient has a good experience, you're going to get more referrals versus if they express that they had a poor or impersonalized service, there's plenty of other ASCs to choose.

[B]

Yes, absolutely. And with 60% of health systems considering ASC joint ventures and many ASCs are already partnering with systems in their communities, what opportunities do you see for collaboration, whether with providers or vendors, to strengthen patient care and operational efficiency?

[C]

Collaborating with your vendors is a really great way to know what's out there in the market. They'll hear from others and they'll have inside information, not the secret information. But you'll have a bigger look on a swot wider outside your surrounding market of maybe who's overwhelmed with services they can't deliver, there's a backup or where a market's already saturated and you may not want to go into because again, we're looking at the race to the bottom on price. Your vendors also can collaborate with you to deliver procurement platforms so you can really see your spend, compare your different supply pricing, have great and sustainable supply chain which we've all discovered during COVID and afterwards that just in time ordering is no longer just in time and you always really need to have a backup plan vendor for your mission critical items and your vendors can help you with negotiating rate and having platforms that give you transparency to see what other vendors are doing and you get those vendors to work together to give you better pricing and sustainable supply.

[B]

And is there anything else that we didn't touch on or any final thoughts you'd like to share as we wrap up the conversation?

[C]

I think it's really important for us to take a look at, as I mentioned before, not just chasing the shiny new thing. Sometimes it's not always best to be first. When a lot of new regulations are rolled out, new procedures are released to outpatient, it still can be a gray area of how it's billed, how it's going to be reimbursed, how will it be handled, what's the pre authorization pain points going to be because you need to be prepared for all of that and how will you staff up for the new procedures or the new equipment that needs to be brought on for that and be able to take a look at what are your costs going to be in that front loaded time where you are training, investing to be able to finally execute with excellence?

[B]

Absolutely. Well Tara, thanks so much for joining me today on the Beckers Healthcare Podcast. Again, we're recording live at the 31st annual business and operations of ASES.

[C]

Thank you for having me.