Eyeworld Daily News

EW SHOW DAILY 42 Saturday, May 7, 2016 ASOA News Today by Liz Hillman EyeWorld Staff Writer information that they needed to be able to continue to run their practices," she said. The administrators were learn- ing everything, and that drove ASOA to create the Certified Ophthalmic Executive (COE) credential in 1999. Now, there are more than 300 active COEs. "We get people who have PhDs and people who are high school graduates taking the COE exam, but they all have the basic knowledge they need to perform the job that they're doing," Ms. Santiago said. Ms. Santiago, who served as ASOA's executive director from 1986–2004, said she found the will- ingness of ASOA members to help each other unusual in an encourag- ing way. "One of the things we thought was, 'They're not going to want to share,' because you don't give away your marketing tricks," she said. "But they never hesitated. They were more than willing to share what they were doing, to help each other out, to reach out to each other, and they've continued to do that. There was no holding back." Whether it's a large practice or small one, Skip Fahel, ASOA's first president who served from 1990–91, said ASOA was established to, and continues to, serve a variety of needs. "A lot of it was [that] the better every practice did, the better the profession did in general," he said, explaining how ASOA provid- ed smaller practices with tools they otherwise might not have had. Celebrating 30 Throughout 2016, ASOA is hosting various celebratory events in honor of its 30th anniversary. One of the main features is a website devoted to this milestone. This website highlights ASOA's history and accomplishments, as well as the many ways members can celebrate. ASOA will be drawing a mem- ber's name on the 30th of each month to send that lucky person a variety of goodies to "show them that we care," Ms. Rowland said. Members submitted essays about how the society has benefitted them to an ASOAwesome contest affected practices, provided a venue for members to ask questions and share their experiences, and helped establish the value of ophthalmic administrators in this field of med- icine. Benefitting practices large and small While ASOA provides resources to help administrators better perform their jobs, it also allows the phy- sician to focus on the patient and improve the practice as a whole, ac- cording to Laureen Rowland, ASOA's executive director since 2011. Don Bell, ASCRS chief operat- ing officer and liaison to the ASOA board of directors, said ASCRS mem- bers "depend more than ever" on ASOA administrators. "The role of the administrator has grown tremendously in the in- formation age. With electronic med- ical records, with government-man- dated data collection, and outcomes reporting, the administrator must often serve as the practice's chief in- formation officer as well as a mana- gerial leader. It's a huge job. And it's getting bigger and more difficult all the time," Mr. Bell said. "The paper- work and reporting responsibilities have become so enormous that if there's to be any time left for doctors to actually practice medicine, it will be because the administrator has taken on a greater role and enables that to happen." Mr. Bell went on to say he is impressed that ASOA is so mem- ber-focused. "They listen closely to the members, they answer every email and phone inquiry, and they tailor their programs to directly meet member needs. ASOA has al- ways had a unique ability to remain ahead of the curve while never leav- ing anyone behind," he said. Ms. Santiago echoed this in talking about the organization's educational seminars. She said that when ASOA put on presentations about new regulations or marketing how-tos, it was always on the cut- ting edge of technology at the time. In the 1980s and early 1990s, ASOA mailed out cassette tapes, followed by CDs. Then came phone and web conferencing. "We always made it convenient to the members when we provided Karcher, who, knowing that ASCRS had recently conducted a survey and learned that its members would like more information about practice management, gave her 6 program hours at the 1986 ASCRS Annual Symposium in Los Angeles. "We got 90 people to register in less than 3 months," Ms. Santiago said. "At the meeting, people didn't want to leave the room. … We sat there for hours just talking about how we did things in our practices and what we found worked and what didn't work." Eventually, Mr. Karcher said he had to step in and clear out the room for other meeting program- ming, but that's when he caught Ms. Santiago's eye. "As we were walking out of the meeting room, I said, 'What kind of group is this?' and she said it was a small group of administrators," he recalled. "We looked each other in the eye and said perhaps an organi- zation might be in order." "There was no question in my mind that there was a void," Mr. Karcher said. "The administrators were looking for education and I thought, why not incorporate the organization and organize it under the ASCRS umbrella?" Shortly thereafter, ASOA was established and within a month it had 300 members. Over the last 3 decades, ASOA has guided members through vari- ous federal regulatory changes that T hirty years ago, Lucy Santiago stood in line for the ladies' room while attending the American Academy of Ophthalmolo- gy's annual meeting. Working at the time as a con- sultant for a practice in Long Beach, California, she attended this meet- ing with a handful of other practice administrators, mostly to check out new technologies and equipment on the show floor. In that line for the restroom, she started talking with her peers and sharing information. An idea began to take shape. "At the time, there was no place that I could turn and say 'How are you guys doing this?' or compare notes with anybody," Ms. Santiago said, explaining how administrators of ophthalmic practices in the mid- 1980s felt rather isolated. "It dawned on me that we need an organiza- tion." This thought eventually helped pave the way for founding the American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators (ASOA), which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. It now boasts more than 2,800 members, its own annual meeting that features diverse programming and exceeds 1,000 in attendance, a certification program, and a plethora of resources. Shortly after her lightbulb moment, Ms. Santiago met with ASCRS Executive Director David ASOA celebrates its 30th anniversary continued on page 44 Lucy Santiago, ASOA founder and executive director from 1986–2005 (front row, left), David Karcher, ASCRS executive director (front row, right), and Skip Fahel, ASOA's first president (center), are pictured in 1990, just a few years after ASOA organized under ASCRS. Source: ASOA

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