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Austin Cheng – From the OR to DC: An ASC Leader's Journey into Congressional Candidacy
99 Plays1 year ago
As a first-generation American, small business owner, healthcare expert, and army veteran with extensive criminal law experience, Austin Cheng has an impressive and extensive resume. What does Austin plan to do next with this experience? Run for New York’s 3rd Congressional District.
Austin Cheng is currently the CEO of Gramercy Surgery Center in New York. We had the opportunity to sit down with Austin to learn more about his journey to D.C. and how his life experiences have prepared him for this moment. While his platform covers critical topics such as lowering energy costs, bringing green jobs to Long Island, making the district a safer place, and inclusivity (amongst others), we focused most of the conversation on a topic he is very passionate about: healthcare.
Learn more & support by visiting https://www.austinfornewyork.com/
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast Format
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to This Week in Surgery Centers. If you're in the ASC industry, then you're in the right place. Every week, we'll start the episode off by sharing an interesting conversation we had with our featured guest, and then we'll close the episode by recapping the latest news impacting surgery centers. We're excited to share with you what we have, so let's get started and see what the industry's been up to.
Announcement: Austin Chang for Congress
00:00:27
Speaker
Hi everyone. Here's what you can expect on today's episode. Austin Chang is currently the CEO at Gramercy Surgery Center in New York.
00:00:36
Speaker
And today he joins us to share some exciting news. Austin has officially announced that he is running for the United States Congress and New York's third congressional district. I discussed with Austin what inspired him to go down this path, the changes he hopes to make, particularly on the healthcare front and what the future will hold for him.
Motivations for Running
00:00:58
Speaker
Hope everyone enjoys the episode and here's what's going on this week in surgery centers.
00:01:08
Speaker
Hi Austin, welcome to the podcast. Thank you for having me. Great to be on again. I am so excited to have you on today because you are actually the first guest we ever had on the show, which was almost a year ago. So you will always hold a special place in our show's history. But for our listeners who may have missed episode one, can you share a little bit about yourself and what we're here to talk about today?
00:01:35
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. So I am the CEO of Gramercy Surgery Center. We are New York's leading independent ambulatory surgery center. So we have a facility in Manhattan and Queens, both in New York City, and they are ranked number one and number two. So we're really proud of our facilities. And I also happen to be running for United States Congress in New York's third congressional district.
00:01:58
Speaker
That is incredible news. I'm so inspired by you. What has inspired you to run for Congress? How did you get to this place?
00:02:08
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. Thank you for that question. I look out to what this country and nation seems to be becoming. I just think that we need to bring our politics back to a place of civility and common sense where Americans can know that their political elected leaders are looking out for the best interest of everyday Americans.
00:02:33
Speaker
and not turning every single little thing into a political war. We just came off the back of a near government shutdown that would have been, I think, the fourth time in 10 years. And I really think Americans are just sick of that partisan politics. And we all want to move forward and move to a place where we can talk to one another like neighbors and bring people-first solutions back to our home and our home districts.
00:03:01
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I think everyone will resonate with that.
Background and Business
00:03:05
Speaker
You have such a unique background between being a lawyer in the army and now running a surgery center and not only any surgery center, the number one surgery center in New York. How has all of this experience prepared you?
00:03:21
Speaker
Yes. So before I was running Gramercy Survey Center, I was actually serving on active duty with the United States Army in a section of the military that we called the JAG Corps, which is the section of attorneys. So I was placed on a track, a criminal law track. So I was a federal prosecutor prosecuting army courts marshals for a few years and then flipped jobs. And I was a criminal defense attorney also in the federal system for the army.
00:03:49
Speaker
for a little over a year as well. So I had this base foundation in criminal law and the military, and I gave that up to come back to Gramercy to take on what was effectively my mother's business. She founded it.
00:04:06
Speaker
way back when and at the time it was we were all really proud of her because it was the first holy woman owned non-surgeon owned surgery center in New York and it since then it's really grown unfortunately she fell ill to a terminal cancer so I had a long conversation with her back this was back in 2018 and 2019 and
00:04:27
Speaker
And I ended up making the decision to come back to New York and take on her business, but really her whole legacy. And this was, gosh, we buried her the week right before COVID. In some sense, it was good timing in the sense that I was able to come back and take things on just in time. And the team from there, they took things in stride and continued to work really hard.
00:04:52
Speaker
The team here is great and we're proud of what they do every day, providing health care to New Yorkers. But I say all that to say, I found myself with this illegal background, this criminal justice background and this military background, but at the same time, this very deep experience running a full health care operation and a business.
00:05:13
Speaker
So I think that this is a really wide breadth of experience that I'm really excited to offer to New York's third congressional district and offer my experiences and my passion for service to my home district. And yeah, just really excited to be a congressional candidate.
00:05:31
Speaker
Yeah. You had shared the story about your mother with me last year and I honestly find myself thinking about her often, which I know might sound weird because I've never met her, but I just am so fascinated with her story and the noble cause of you coming back and taking over the surgery center and just, you really are uniquely positioned and have such a unique breadth of experience behind you already that
00:05:59
Speaker
I love it. I think you're going to do incredibly well. Are you the first active surgery center leader to run for Congress, at least in this district that you know of? The surgery center industry is as every year we gather and there are a thousand books, but I don't think it says as big as we think. And to the best of my knowledge, I think I'm the only ASC odor operator that's run for Congress. If anybody has another fact out there that
00:06:29
Speaker
says that's not the case. I would love to learn from who else ran for Congress so I can give them a call and get some notes from them. But yeah, to the best of my knowledge, I'm the first. I'm really proud of that. Yeah, you should be. That's very cool. I did some Googling myself, and I didn't find anything. We'll go with that, that you are the first until we hear otherwise. So switching gears a little bit, let's talk about your platform. What are the core pillars that you're running on?
Healthcare Reform Focus
00:07:00
Speaker
Yeah, appreciate that, Erica. I'm running from a platform, first and foremost, bringing common sense and practical solutions back to politics, back to Congress. First and foremost, I'm running from a place where I'm just focusing on real solutions to real problems and framing the problems like that. And I think that we need to get back to a place where that's how we view our problems as Americans.
00:07:28
Speaker
I found myself extremely passionate about healthcare because I've seen healthcare from behind the curtain, a lot of things that are wrong and broken with our system. But at the same time, that means a lot of room for improvement and opportunities to improve that system for everyday Americans. So I'm definitely going to be focusing a lot on healthcare.
00:07:49
Speaker
And there are other parts of the platform as well, community safety, high cost of living, and ensuring that everyday Americans are able to get by, especially with the high inflation, focusing on energy and infrastructure. But I would love to, for this podcast, talk a little bit about health care, again, because that is my passion. We've found ourselves in a position where this industry is now, I believe the stats say that we're at 20% of the nation's
00:08:19
Speaker
GDP. So this is one fit of our entire economy is attributed to health care. Not only that, but it impacts everyday Americans, right, and their ability to live and live their life in a way that they want to. There are things that started happening, and most recently, I think COVID really
00:08:39
Speaker
drew it out into the foreground that I believe is very concerning for healthcare industry. There was a statistic that I read that during the pandemic and immediately afterwards, there was a mass exodus of MDs just quitting the practice of medicine. I think the stat was 100,000.
00:08:58
Speaker
If you take into account the RNs and the PAs and all the other healthcare providers, we're talking combined probably 200,000 providers that left the practice of medicine. At the same time, I'm looking at CMS, Medicare reimbursements, and I know for multiple years in a row, physician reimbursement is cut by several percentages.
00:09:22
Speaker
percentage points. So, you know, on the one hand, we have this indication that there's going to be a shortage of providers. And then we have government policy, you know, seemingly making it even harder for providers to continue practicing. I know that there are other, just like everyday Americans have expenses and costs, health care providers have that as well. And those costs seem to be going up from materials to malpractice insurance. So I think
00:09:52
Speaker
Healthcare is at an inflection point, and I think that we really need more leaders and elected officials in Congress who know healthcare intimately. So that's one point of the platform that I'm really excited about and hope to be able to contribute and improve.
00:10:12
Speaker
Yeah, I'm sure you absolutely will. I was just reading, I should have looked up the name of the bill, but there was a price transparency act that was just try to go through again last month that got shot down. And so we need people in Congress who understand why these bills matter and who they impact and how the insurance, how the payers are going to be involved and the physicians and the patients. And because you obviously see hundreds and hundreds of patients too. So you're not only looking at it as a small business owner.
00:10:42
Speaker
but also as a consumer and you have so many interactions with patients themselves. Yeah, we, because of the position that I've been placed in and it's really been an honor to care that likes you of my mother and my family, but because of this position, I've seen
00:11:01
Speaker
what it takes to align all the
Collaborations for Cost Reduction
00:11:03
Speaker
different stakeholders. Like you were saying, there's a lot of different parties that make health care work. And everybody is in health care to make sure that we provide the very best health care to our patients. But that only occurs if we have providers. So we need to also take care of our providers, otherwise there's not going to be anybody to take care of those patients.
00:11:24
Speaker
We also need to, and it's not easy to take care of providers because there's all these different, and I've gained a huge respect for people running a small business because it takes a lot to make sure that there's the money in the bank for payroll, all the way down to what if the person at the front desk calls out, and how do you keep operations going?
00:11:45
Speaker
So it's a lot of work for the providers and the businesses. And then you have, of course, the insurance companies. At the end of the day, they are a major stakeholder and component in this health care ecosystem. So we have to make sure that they are aligned and what honestly that we push forward aligns all the stakeholders. I think that's the key in health care.
00:12:06
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. Yeah. The payer piece of it is interesting because it's, someone said to me recently, keep your friends close and your enemies closer referring to insurance companies. And I don't necessarily agree with that, but it's, you gotta, the stronger your relationship can be. And the more you understand where they're coming from and the more you can partner together versus viewing them as an opponent in some sort of way, the better. Yeah, it's complicated.
00:12:33
Speaker
Yeah. I think insurance companies have started working with providers like surgery centers and they've worked to lower costs. That is something that we've actually started doing at Gramercy Surgery Center with insurance companies, but also with very large scale consumers of healthcare like unions or other employers where these large groups who are also spending tons of money on healthcare look.
00:12:59
Speaker
and say, how do we save costs for our members or union members or our company or our employees? We don't want to sacrifice that quality of care. We don't want to sacrifice that patient customer satisfaction and that experience. And we've been able to create a very successful
00:13:16
Speaker
program with a local union here. We have worked with the hotel union, for example. That union has, I believe, 40,000, 50,000 members across New York City that staff our city's hotels. Definitely a great partner to work with, but we've created a program where they have access to award-winning surgery centers that consistently have a good reputation of patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes.
00:13:44
Speaker
So, without sacrificing that quality outcome and that patient satisfaction, we've helped them lower their cost of care. And that is because some of those procedures that used to occur in the hospital have come to our facilities.
00:14:00
Speaker
And these are not necessarily procedures that New Yorkers would want to be in a hospital or need to be in a hospital. For example, cataract surgery. I don't know that anybody would really say our cataract surgery has to stay in the hospital. Nobody's saying that, even the hospitals. They want to save their ORs for larger cases and cases that need to be in a hospital setting.
00:14:27
Speaker
So I think it's a win, including the big hospital system stakeholders. So we're really proud of that. And I'm hoping to take that, for example, that lesson and bring that to other employers in the community and say, this is one example of how I've used my experience in health care to drive down costs for a very real and large employer. And I hope to be able to take that expertise and continue to drive down costs for other employers in New York and in the congressional district.
00:14:57
Speaker
Yeah, no, that's a great example.
Advocating for Transparent Pricing
00:15:00
Speaker
In the spirit of cost, let's talk about price transparency for a second, just because that's something that we're passionate about. I know it's important to you and I know it's, it's, there's so much going on right now with price transparency legislation and that obviously the financial aspect of having surgery.
00:15:17
Speaker
is just as stressful for people and anxiety inducing as the surgery itself. With Gramercy and the platform that you're running on, what are you thinking in terms of price transparency and how you can help further that cause?
00:15:33
Speaker
As a consumer, you want to be able to walk into a shop or before you receive a service, you would like to know what that cost of that service or that product is, right? So when, for example, when you walk into Starbucks in the morning for a coffee, you know exactly what you're getting and what you're paying for it, right? We don't necessarily have that in healthcare. We struggle to provide the
00:15:54
Speaker
The providers that can provide an estimate of what they believe the service is going to cost. Then on the back end, there's always this reconciliation and the secondary bills that come out after we balance and bill the insurance companies and figure out what is owed from each party.
00:16:15
Speaker
Healthcare is extremely messy in that sense. I hope to be able to bring healthcare to a place where the pricing is transparent. And it's very clear to patients, not only that, but it's affordable. And we're actively working to drive down the cost of healthcare. I think surgery is one place where we can focus on as Americans. And we're chatting about surgeries just because we happen to be in that
00:16:41
Speaker
industry, but there are other parts of healthcare as well, pharmaceuticals and drugs, a big huge component of healthcare. There's chronic disease management where many Americans rely on or need healthcare that helps them manage these chronic diseases. There's end of life care that's quite costly as well in this country. We need to actively work to cut the costs of healthcare in this country.
00:17:07
Speaker
Yes, I agree. It's a basic human right. And I think everybody deserves to live with that level of dignity and security knowing that they can go get the healthcare that they need without having to avoid it because they're concerned about the costs. I agree. Before I switch gears and kind of wrap up, is there anything else about your platform that you wanted to touch upon or wanted to share?
00:17:33
Speaker
Just really excited to be one of the candidates with a real heavy duty healthcare background and operations experience. Really excited to be one of the few candidates with active duty military experience.
00:17:49
Speaker
and also really excited to be the only Asian-American candidate on the ticket across both parties. So that congressional district actually is becoming, you know, I think the Asian-American population is between 16 and 17 percent now. It's not nothing.
00:18:05
Speaker
I'm really excited to just be able to say to my community, here's someone who looks like you, sounds like you, grew up with very similar experiences and really excited to and proud to be able to represent that community. So that's another point of camping that we're really excited about as well. Yeah, that's awesome. You should be incredibly proud.
Media Attention and Leadership Goals
00:18:24
Speaker
Now, considering whose seat you would be replacing, George Santos, I'd imagine this race is going to get a lot of media attention more than most races will. So what do you think will be the most challenging part of that?
00:18:40
Speaker
Yeah, I don't ever really bring up George Santos whenever I'm campaigning. Really, I think everybody in the district is just sick and tired of hearing his name and everybody just wants to move on. So I think the hardest part about this is to try to separate
00:18:59
Speaker
our campaign with George Santos and focus the campaign really on what it should be, which is who I am and the message and what I intend to do to help the congressional district. But we're really excited about making sure that's what our campaign is focused on.
00:19:16
Speaker
We're not really going to be focusing on George Santos at all. That's not really part of our plan. And I will say that just like there are a ton of horrible things that happened because of COVID, but there were a few good things that happened in healthcare, in our industry. I think it taught
00:19:37
Speaker
But had patients asking, is there any place else to get surgery besides a hospital? And that led patients to become more and more educated about surgery centers. And I thought that was a good thing that came from COVID. And just there are many bad things that have come from the George Santos situation. I think that there are a few good things. And one good thing that I'm really excited and hopeful for is that
00:20:00
Speaker
will drive a new crop of leaders to stand up and say, hey, we're just sick and tired of our supposed community leaders being like this and not putting the community first. And I hope and I expect that his presence and in Congress will really drive this. Yeah, a new group of leaders that are young and energized and just want to do good for the communities. I'm hoping that's one of the silver linings and impacts of his, of Georgetown.
00:20:30
Speaker
Good. I love that. You're bringing a breath of fresh air and I'm sure the district will be very welcoming of that. So now that you've announced what happens next, what does the next year look like for you?
Balancing Campaign and Business
00:20:45
Speaker
Yes, so I'm going to be very busy because I am running these two facilities, but I'm also running a full campaign, right? So we're taking it day by day. I think if I win the Democratic primary, which will be in late spring of next year, 2024, then I will really need to assess my day-to-day role here at Gramercy and figure out a solution likely have to step down from here. But until then,
00:21:14
Speaker
We're playing it day by day and yeah, just very excited to be able to run a campaign, get my message out there, meet people. And yeah, so we'll see how that goes. Good. All right. How can people learn more in support? Where can they find you?
00:21:28
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And thanks again for the opportunity to be on the podcast. Our campaign website is austinfornewyork.com. So if they log on to that website, I'll have a list of my issues and what we're focusing on. If the campaign message, if it happens to resonate with them, would love a donation or love for them to share with their community and their network. Just really excited to get the message out and hopefully bring Americans back together, back to a place where we can talk about politics without feeling like
00:21:57
Speaker
We need to shout or end relationships. So just really excited about sharing that message and helping the community. All right. Thank you so much, Austin. I'm rooting for you. I'll be following your campaign and thank you so much for coming on. Thanks, Erica. Take care.