ASCQC Assistant Executive Director Becky Ziegler-Otis joined ASCA Past President Mandy Hawkins on the latest episode of the Advancing Surgical Care Podcast, part of an ongoing look at how ASCs can put AI to work as ASCA’s new Artificial Intelligence Working Group gets underway.
Becky shared practical AI tools ASCs are likely already halfway using, from letting Copilot catch you up on a weekend’s worth of email to drafting a committee agenda or a first pass at a job description with ChatGPT or Claude. Her advice throughout: every one of these tools works best with a human in the loop to review, edit and make the final call.
The conversation also turned to a topic worth ASCs’ full attention, business associate agreements. Becky’s core message is one every administrator should hear: paying for an AI tool does not mean a BAA is automatically in place, and it takes just one careless paste of a patient complaint into a chat window to create real exposure.
Becky also recounted her own attempt to stump an AI voice agent handling a pre-op phone call, with results that surprised her, and closed with an update on ASCQC’s work, including this year’s ASC Safety & Quality Assessment results and how AI can support quality improvement efforts.
Listen to the full episode below for Becky’s complete conversation with Mandy Hawkins.