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what they do best, provide care. To learn more, visit carecredit.com forward slash beckerspodcast. This is Gracelyn Keller with the Becker's Healthcare Podcast, and we are recording live at the thirty first annual business and operations of ASCs. I'm currently joined by Carrie Marut, who is the administrator at Mentor Surgery Center. Carrie, thanks for joining us today. Let's kick off by having you share a little bit about yourself
and your work in the ASC space. Well, first of all, thank you for having me. I started in the ASC space about five years ago. I was working at a large hospital organization running the operating room, same day surgery, pain management, endo, CS, all the things that, come in with the surgery space. The doctors recruited me to come over to the ASC side as a director of nursing and then the administrator shortly after that. And I've been there ever
since. I'm an RN by trade, but love the administrative world. Wonderful. Well, thanks for taking the time to be here. And let's start our conversation talking about the ASC market. Because in The US, this is projected to reach 60,800,000,000.0 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 for today?
I think a lot of the force that's driving the, expansion of ASCs are actually patients. You know, patients come into an ASC. It's a little bit more formal or less formal than a hospital space. They feel a little bit more comfortable with the atmosphere. It's a little less expensive when you look at their deductibles that they have to pay, and, it's actually way more efficient.
So the partnership with larger hospitals and them looking out for the benefit of their patients, I feel like, is a is a huge factor. I think people should just be prepared to have a a higher rate of patients coming through their door, look at their turnovers, look at their, greeting the patients, and making the patients just feel as most comfortable as possible.
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 scale. So how do you see deeper tech integration shaping the way ASCs deliver care and manage the business over the next few years? It's kind of funny. We, started out and when I became, administrator over at the ASC, we were actually charting on paper still, which I believe a lot of people still do.
We've integrated, an EHR recently into our surgery center. And the actual time that the nurses get to spend with the patients went up because of the EHR. Everything is really nice. It's pretty much prepopulated for you in that. And it's a few questions and click of the button, and basically, your medical record is done. And so it allows the nurses to engage with the patients, talk to them a little bit more, make them feel more comfortable on the settings.
We do not currently have robotics, but, I know just from past experience at the hospitals that robotics also is huge, in how quickly patients can get in and out and how less invasive some of the procedures can be. And so I think in the ASC space, it's also, a a great thing to have. I wish we did. But, unfortunately, we're love to grow a little bit more first. Absolutely.
And with 60% of health systems considering ASC joint ventures and many ASCs already partnering with systems in their communities, what opportunities do you see for collaboration, whether with other providers or vendors to strengthen to strengthen patient care and operational efficiency?
I think collaboration is important in any adventure, and ASC especially, whether it's with your vendors that you choose to help streamline your billing or collecting or anything in your space when it comes to supplies, how to make your operation more efficient, anything like that that you can do and you find a good partner who sees the same vision as you do, it's off, obviously, a greater experience for the patient.
As far as, joint ventures go, it's always nice to have a partnership with a larger organization who can also drive patients to your ASC. And, honestly, it's it's just better for the patients. I mean, the experience, like I said earlier, the cost, to operate in an ASC versus, a hospital and getting those patients there and the procedures there that can be done in an ASC is just gonna make health care and patients, you know, just so much happier.
Absolutely. Well, Carrie, thanks so much for joining me today. Is there anything we didn't touch on or any final thoughts you'd like to share on the podcast? I just really, appreciate being here. Thanks to Alec for having me from CareCredit. And, I hope that next year I'm able to do the same. Wonderful. Well, thanks so much. And again, we are recording live at the thirty first annual business and operations of ASCs. Thanks so much.