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- [00:00]
A
This is Grace Linkeller with the Becker's Healthcare podcast. And I'm excited to be joined today by Travis Messina, who is the CEO at Regent Surgical. Travis, thanks for being here. We'd love to have you start by introducing yourself and telling us a little bit more about your system.
- [00:16]
B
Absolutely, Grace, it's a pleasure to be here and thanks for having me on today. So at Regent Surgical, we are an ambulatory surgery center management company. We have about 25 centers across the country with pockets of concentration in the Northeast, Midwest and then Pacific Northwest, but have a smattering of centers across the country as well. Our predominant focus is with health systems, and so we partner with not for profit health systems to help them manage and grow their surgery centers, but we also have partnerships directly with independent physicians. And our main goal is continuing to create access through high quality ambulatory surgery centers to make sure that patients can receive that care when they want to and have those outstanding outcomes that we're accustomed to providing to our patients.
- [01:04]
A
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to be here, and I'd love to know what trends you are currently watching in your space.
- [01:13]
B
Absolutely, Grace, it's a great question. I think there's a couple of trends that really have us focused. One is, and obviously this is a benefit to us, but the struggles and headwinds that health systems are facing actually create tailwinds for the ASC industry. So things like site neutrality and potential regulatory changes, more focus by the government on price transparency and also the removal of specific procedures from the inpatient only list. And so you've seen with this current administration, last time they were in office, they did a lot of things that really promoted growth within the ASC industry. And it appears to be that type of focus again this time around, which is obviously a benefit to us, but a challenge to a lot of our health system partners. So we try and step in and help when we can because we do think that they're gonna continue to face challenges as those types of legislative initiatives are enacted. I think the second thing that we're seeing is the continued out migration of high acuity procedures, things like spine procedures. Obviously total joints have been going on for quite some time. And now cardiac procedures are really being embraced in an outpatient setting. And making sure that you have an appropriate pace of that out migration is something that we're watching very, very closely. We work with a lot of academic medical centers, places like massgerill, Brigham, Cleveland Clinic, UAB down in Birmingham, as well as others in working with them. To identify procedures that can be safely transitioned to an outpatient setting is a trend that we're keeping an eye on as well. And then lastly, I would say is how ASC management companies like Regent can partner with payers specifically on the Medicare Advantage side. Obviously, with Medicare Advantage having about half of the beneficiaries in Medicare, it's important that we continue to work with them to make sure that we can offer the high quality care that our partners provide in our centers and make that available to the beneficiaries and their health plans. So those are three things that we're really focused on today. Grace.
- [03:27]
A
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for sharing and kind of going along with that. Looking toward the future, what are you most focused on and excited about right now?
- [03:36]
B
I'd say that the things that we continue to be focused on are predominantly twofold. One is obviously becoming the partner of choice to health systems and physicians across the country. As I just mentioned, we've had some recent wins in the form of Cleveland Clinic selecting Regent to be its exclusive ASC partner and Master Will Brigham up in the Northeast. And we'll see more announcements from region in the coming months. We're really excited about that and we're really honored that they selected us to be their partner. They are world class institutions. Like all of our partners, they're excellent at rendering care to the communities in which they operate. But to have a role in that care delivery process is really, really important to us and we'll continue to focus on that. The second thing that we're really focusing on, Grace, in these coming months and years is the importance of technology in the ASC setting. It's a little bit surprising when I joined Regent to know that as an industry round figures probably about 20% of centers are on electronic medical record. Obviously they have practice management systems, but electronic documentation from a clinical perspective is something that has not been readily embraced throughout the ASC industry. And we really are pushing not only the utilization of that technology, but all technology so that we become more efficient so that we can improve the operations. And really doubling down on the role of technology in an AST setting is something that we think is going to make Regen a standout operator in the space.
- [05:08]
A
Absolutely. And kind of rewinding. What are some things that you are proud of from the last six to 18 months in your role?
- [05:16]
B
Yeah, there's a lot, but I'll try and focus on three. Grace. The first one that I'm super proud of is obviously our team being selected to be partners with Health Systems across the country. I mentioned some of the new ones, but obviously all of our partners, we're fortunate to partner with a number of health systems across the country and we expand service lines with them. Folks like Henry Ford Health System, Providence, rwj, Barnabas, Catholic Health, we've got tremendous partnerships and we're really excited about those as well as with our independent partners, places like OSI and Oregon and elsewhere. So really proud of that. The second thing that I'm especially proud of is the engagement that we have with our team members. This is kind of hot off the presses, Grace, but we completed our annual engagement survey and we had remarkable participation from our team members, which is well over a thousand folks. We had 95% participation and the engagement came out at 90%. That's unheard of in the healthcare industry. We also poll our physician partners and we have round figures around 750 physician partners or utilizers at our ASCs we had nearly 70% participation in those surveys and again our performance was in the 90th percentile. So that just demonstrates the value that we add not only to our physician partners at the center but also to our team members because it's well documented that if you have a highly engaged team that results in highly engaged physicians and that results in there's a tremendous correlation to great outcomes. So super proud of that. And then lastly, what I'd say this is the third one. This is obviously wish this didn't happen, but we had a team member that had an accident recently and to see the way that the team rallied around that center and that leader's family was, was truly remarkable. And it's something that I'm truly proud of because obviously you have to go above and beyond. And so having that type of dedication is remarkable. And so we were there in a time of need and so that reminds you about the important things and how fragile things can be. So, so definitely proud of our team in that instance.
- [07:26]
A
Absolutely. And then final question for you today as we wrap up our conversation. I would love to know what advice you have for emerging leaders or people who hope to one day be in a C suite position like yourself.
- [07:38]
B
Absolutely. That's a great question, Grace. I'll focus in on something that we work at at Regent quite frequently and that's the importance of how you achieve to be a high performing team. In high performing teams, a critical component is when you have the ability to have the exact conversation you need to have with whom you need to have it at that moment without editing. And Grace, it's that last part without editing, that's most important a lot of times, and it's understandably so, people are afraid or hesitate to share the critical part of a conversation that allows you to have the breakthrough. And ultimately, it does a disservice to not only yourself, but also to your team member, because they don't know exactly where they stand with you. And so making sure that you have a commitment and you have a relationship, the moment you take that position on a leadership team to share that information as transparently as possible, if you embrace that, that's when you can get to the root cause of an issue. And more importantly, you can start addressing that issue. And that's how you get great outcomes very, very quickly. Because any business, it is a hard, hard thing to be a leader. It's probably one of the hardest things ever. And so making sure that you address things in a timely manner allows you to focus on those initiatives that truly create value.
- [08:59]
A
Wonderful. Well, Travis, thank you so much for taking the time to share these insights and join us today on the Beckers Healthcare podcast.
- [09:06]
B
Absolutely. I appreciate the chance to be here, Grace.