Eyeworld Daily News

EW SHOW DAILY 38 Tuesday, May 10, 2016 Meeting Reporter by Vanessa Caceres EyeWorld Contributing Writer Needs and Delivering Patient-Cus- tomized Care." The session is part of the new yearlong 365 Curriculum from ASCRS and EyeWorld to address bar- riers to improvement in clinical and practice patterns through large-scale educational campaigns. comfortable several years from now with treating early presbyopia signs very quickly. Dr. Donaldson and fellow panelists took part in "Complete Correction for the Presbyopic Pa- tient: Understanding the Range of panelists during an EyeWorld CME Educational Symposium on presby- opia. "Ten years from now, presby- opia may not be normal anymore," said Kendall Donaldson, MD, Miami, noting that patients and ophthalmologists may be more O phthalmology may not yet be at the point of using sophisticated surgical treatments for patients in their 40s who don't have a cataract and who are experienc- ing early signs of aging vision—but 1 day, that may be the norm, said Pearls and trends in presbyopia management by Chiles Aedam R. Samaniego EyeWorld Asia-Pacific Senior Staff Writer ABCs of practice management T he ASOA Administrator Beginner's Circle (ABC) Task Force was formed in 2014. "The idea of it was to assist new administrators in their practice management journey," said Jack Hulla, Brooklyn, New York. "I was fortunate enough to be a part of this task force at its inception," he said. "I myself have less than 3 years of experience. I would say that for me the task force—and ASOA in general—has been the single greatest career deci- sion that I made in terms of partici- pating in and learning from it." He was, he said, placed in a po- sition he was not ready for, but "the "I was just walking down the hall and someone offered me a free lunch," Mr. Casebolt said, introducing himself. Mr. Casebolt was one of a panel of "real giants in the industry" at the ABC lunch who shared their knowledge and wisdom with attendees. ability to talk to experts at a table and ask questions and the open- ness that they have in sharing best practices and how to handle certain issues was of immeasurable value to me." Monday's ABC lunch gave at- tendees the opportunity to similarly partake of the wisdom from a panel of "real giants in the industry," Mr. Hulla said. The panel was asked what they thought was the biggest issue facing practice administrators. Karen Spencer, CEO, Norfolk, Virginia, said it was relationship- building—the attempt to under- stand, to seek to understand, and be understood. She said that creat- ing what is called a "relationship dyad" is vital: connecting with your managing partner, lead physician, or board, learning their goals and ex- pectations and then communicating this information to your staff. Building on Ms. Spencer's response, Elizabeth Holloway, MA, COE, Trinity, Florida, said 1 of the biggest challenges in her experience was "figuring out that communi- cation plan"—understanding what type of touch points you need to create in order to build that relation- ship. This, she said, is sometimes eas- ier said than done—doctors might not be clear in their meaning, and practice administrators must figure out the message that doctors sent. "It's trying out a group of techniques of that communication strategy to make sure they know what's going on," she said. But looking at all the challenges administrators face, "it really does come back to the overwhelming amount of items that are on your agenda, from compliance to staff training, to new technologies and training your clinic." It can be pretty daunting, she said, but it is important to give your- self time, and to develop and stick to your own development plan as you learn and grow. "If you're not getting over- whelmed, you're not getting it," said Keith Casebolt, CEO, Medford, Or- egon. One of the biggest challenges for practice administrators, he said, is managing your own morale. He advised administrators to find a way to step back so as not to get caught up in solving problems, instead looking at the broader view and approaching things as fixing a system. For Dianna Graves, COMT, Saint Paul, Minnesota, the biggest chal- lenge was to get over having come from being a great COMT—"It's not about you," she said; being an administrator, you have to learn to think of yourself as part of a team. Rounding out the ABC panel, Hayley Boling, CEO, MBA, Elkhart, Indiana, said one of the biggest chal- lenges she remembers facing was overcoming resistance to change. Change, she said, is necessary, but while it is often scary, that is not a bad thing; change can be exciting and challenging in a good way. The panel answered a number of other questions, sharing with attendees the wisdom acquired from experience over the years. One thing that emerged from the conversation—the wisdom that was shared over lunch, breaking bread with attendees—was that ulti- mately, being a practice administra- tor comes down to building not just a business, but a community. EW Editors' note: The speakers have no financial interests related to their comments.

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