Ms. Alteri is the president of the New York State Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers and is a surveyor for AAAHC. In addition, she owns her own consulting company and offers guidance to freestanding ASCs all over New York State. “I have gone from nurses’ aide in a nursing home to ICU supervisor to vice president of clinical services to CEO and administrator of the surgery centers,” she says. “I have definitely found my niche in ASCs.”
When thinking about the successes her centers have had over the years, Ms. Alteri can’t name individual initiatives that have impacted this success. “I believe that the ongoing relationship building and immediate availability to the surgical and ASC staff has probably had a lot to do with the success of the center,” she says.
The relationship she sees between her staff and her surgeons is one of her favorite aspects of being administrator at the two centers. “They clearly work together to the patient’s benefit. I am always in awe of these relationships and how well they work together,” she says.
Ms. Alteri enjoys many parts of her job as administrator, including the flexibility her position allows her so that she can be responsive to the needs of the staff and surgeons at the centers. “Also, the board of directors fully supports my efforts in running the centers and this clearly makes the job more enjoyable. I love to read the patient satisfaction surveys and share them with the staff,” she says.
Lisa Austin, RN, CASC — Ms. Austin is the administrator for Peak One Surgery Center located in Frisco, Colo. The multi-specialty, joint-venture center serves the local community as well as international patients.
Ms. Austin also serves as vice president of operations, Western region, for Pinnacle III and has opened a variety of surgery centers. She started out at Pinnacle III as a director of operations, serving as an administrator for many of the company’s new centers. As she moved up the corporate ladder, she remained administrator at Peak One. Additionally, Ms. Austin is a board member of the Colorado Ambulatory Surgery Center Association and chairs the emergency preparedness committee for ASCs in Colorado. She is currently serving a term on MedAssets’ Surgery Center Advisory Board.
According to her colleagues, “Ms. Austin effectively interacts with physicians, hospital management, employees and vendors by establishing a personal, unique rapport with each individual.”
Recently, with the help of her staff, Ms. Austin prepared Peak One for AAAHC accreditation. “We were able to transition a staff that had no ASC experience, only hospital, and have them understand ASCs as a cost-effective alternative to surgery in the hospital,” she says. “Now, people truly understand and are proud of the concept of the center.”
Ms. Austin is proud of the charitable contributions her center has made to the Frisco community. “We donate to the local foundation and community care clinic,” she says. “We also provide the highest amount of charity care in the area.”
Ms. Austin credits the center’s success to her staff. “We have a great, mature group of nurses who have been in the community for many years,” she says. In addition, the staff and physicians have no “class system,” meaning that no staff member feels more important than any other member, according to Ms. Austin. “When everyone comes into work, they are focused on patient care. It’s a close-knit community.”
When it comes to working as an administrator, Ms. Austin enjoys the opportunities and challenges that changes such as preparing for accreditation or the new CMS Conditions for Coverage pose. “There is always a sense of panic, and then we plan how we can make it happen,” she says. “I love to be involved and learning from the staff. Not a day goes by where I don’t learn something.”
Louise Barker, RN, BSN, CNOR — Ms. Barker is the administrator and CEO of Central Louisiana Ambulatory Surgical Center in Alexandria, La., a multi-specialty facility with six operating rooms, two GI suites and one procedure room. The specialties at the facility include orthopedics, interventional pain management, ENT, plastic surgery, gastroenterology, podiatry, urology, ophthalmology, neurosurgery, gynecology, general surgery and dental surgery. CLASC performed 15,000 procedures in calendar year 2008.
Ms. Barker began her career in nursing and gained valuable supervisory and surgical experience at two large hospitals in Alexandria. She joined CLASC in March 1985 as the director of nursing and helped the facility begin operations. In the early years of the center, Ms. Barker achieved CNOR status and assisted in all clinical nursing areas. She quickly worked her way up to her current position.
In 2005, CLASC transitioned from a 10,000 square-foot facility to a 30,000 square-foot facility. In addition to managing the surgery operations, Ms. Barker was instrumental in overseeing the development and construction of the new facility. “It is due to her organization and planning skills that the facility experienced no loss of operating days during the move from one building to another,” says Linda Wright, CFO of CLASC.
Mrs. Barker places high priorities on patient safety and quality service while maintaining high patient, staff and physician satisfaction. She is admired by staff, physicians and those in the community.
Glenda Beasley, RN — Ms. Beasley is the administrative director of the Kentucky Surgery Center in Lexington, Ky. The multi-specialty center, which opened in 1986, has grown to seven operating rooms and three procedure rooms, and specializes in ENT orthopedics, gynecology, plastics, podiatry, oral surgery, endoscopy, pain management, urology and general surgery. In 2008, the center performed more than 10,000 cases.
Ms. Beasley has been with the center since July 1990. With a background in nursing, she has worked in many hospital departments throughout her career, including oncology, medical surgical floor and emergency department. She started her career in outpatient surgery as a circulating OR nurse and worked her way up to administrator.
Over the years, Ms. Beasley has overseen a lot of growth at KSC. The biggest challenge she says was the building of the current facility in 2006. “The KSC board of directors allowed me to have a large part in the development of the building and its patient flow and design,” she says. “I was involved in all aspects, including procurement of equipment, supplies, flooring paint and windows. It was exciting and a lot of work but definitely worth all the extra hours and anxiety.”
Ms. Beasley says that her staff plays a significant role in making KSC so successful. “In an outpatient surgery center, the atmosphere is much more structured and organized, and the staff thrives on routine,” she says. “The staff has the ability to deliver the best patient care that can be offered in a healthcare setting.” Additionally, she considers many of her staff to be “sisters and family.” “I depend on these key people each day. The center would not be as successful as it is currently without the entire management team and the hard work of all the employees,” she says.
Most of all, Ms. Beasley enjoys sharing in the success of the center. “Life as an administrator can lead to long hours on a daily basis, and sometimes the stress associated with that is taxing,” she says. “However, if I step back and look at the center, I have pride in its accomplishments and the high quality of care we provide.”
Sandy Berreth, RN, MS, CASC — Ms. Berreth is the administrator of Brainerd Lakes Surgery Center located in Baxter, Minn., a multi-specialty ASC that performs general surgery, gynecology, orthopedics, ophthalmology, facial plastics, ENT, urology, podiatry and pain management. She has been with the center since it opened in 2005.
Ms. Berreth has been in ASC management for 10 years, but her career has spanned many facets of the healthcare industry. She worked as staff nurse for a few years and then moved to the OR. She worked for 12 years in the “open heart room,” and for 10 of those years in she was in a middle manager position. After earning another degree, she started an ASC for the hospital where she worked before earning yet another degree and arriving at her current position.
When it comes to managing her staff, Ms. Berreth says, with a sense of humor, “I’m obsessive-compulsive, and I expect my staff to feel the same passion I feel about the highest quality healthcare and customer service.” She notes that she has a list of accountabilities and competencies that her staff is held responsible to know and implement. “The best and smartest [people] will work their hardest if they know they are valued. They will be your resources for best initiatives that will lead to the best and safest care.”
Ms. Berreth considers her staff the greatest attribute to her center. “The power of an ASC is the staff,” she says. “They must be recognized for the champions they are.”
She also says that her favorite part of working as an administrator is having the “ability to change what needs to be changed.” “It’s the Serenity Prayer in practice: Change what can be changed, accept what has to be accepted and have the wisdom to know the difference,” she says.
Steven Blom, RN — Mr. Blom is the administrator at the Specialty Surgery Center in San Antonio, Texas, a multi-specialty surgery center that specializes in ENT, ophthalmology, podiatry and pain management. The center opened in 1998 and moved to a new location in Oct. 2005. Currently, the centers perform around 9,400 procedures annually, according to Mr. Blom.
Prior to coming to the Specialty Surgery Center in Oct. 2000, Mr. Blom started his career as an ICU nurse and progressively moved up the management ladder. He spent most of his career in critical care and cardiac catheterization labs.
Mr. Blom oversaw the construction of the center’s new facility in 2005. “It was a great opportunity to start from scratch,” he says. He also notes that the project was completed on time, cutting down on the amount of time the surgery center was closed. “We were shut down for a weekend,” he says. “We closed the doors on the old location on Friday and were back to work at the new location on Monday.”
One of Mr. Blom’s favorite aspects about his job as an administrator is the people he works with on a daily basis. The Specialty Surgery Center has a very high staff retention rate, he says. “It seems like the only time we lose people are when they move out of state,” he says. Mr. Blom has also been able to recruit new physicians to the center. “We started at nine and currently have 23 physicians who use the center,” he says.
Aside from the people, Mr. Blom enjoys the variety his job allows. “I can work on contractual issues with payors or provide back up when we’re short,” he says. “You never know what the day will bring.”
Eric Day, MBA, ATC, LAT — Mr. Day is the administrator at The Center for Special Surgery at the Texas Center for Athletes medical complex in San Antonio, Texas. The center opened in March 2007 and has six operating rooms, eight preoperative bays and 19 recovery bays. The center specializes in orthopedics, hand surgery, pain management, ENT, podiatry and plastic surgery. He has worked at the ASC since its inception and moved from Austin to open the center.
Mr. Day started his career as an athletic trainer, working with athletes and doing sports medicine outreach activities in the Austin market for HealthSouth Corp. He made the transition into administration with the help and support of those he worked with and began to work with outpatient rehabilitation and diagnostic imaging centers. From there, he made the transition into working with orthopedists at ASCs and was able to learn about the different aspects of the business.
At his current center, Mr. Day credits his “dedicated staff that provides great care to our patients” for its success. He notes that the center is always willing to try new things. “I have managers whom are very motivated and get the jobs done in a timely manner,” he says. “I have physicians whom are very supportive of the staff and the goals that we have set for the center. No day is exactly like the other at our center.”
Mr. Day loves his daily interaction with the people at the center and ensuring that patients leave the ASC happy with their experience.
The Center for Special Surgery is doing well in a market that is “full of ASCs,” according to Mr. Day. “We are lucky that we are supported by the physicians in our building, and they keep the center going.”
Carolyn Evec, RN, CNOR — Ms. Evec is the administrator at The Surgery Center at Beaufort in Beaufort, S.C. The multi-specialty center is a hospital-physician joint venture and specializes in ENT, general surgery, GI, GYN, ophthalmology, oral surgery, orthopedics, pain management, podiatry, urology and plastic surgery. Ms. Evec has been with the center for eight years, and under her leadership the center has been accredited by AAAHC.
Prior to coming to The Surgery Center of Beaufort, Ms. Evec opened a surgery center in Missouri and served as the nurse manager at that location for 2.5 years. She has 30 years of nursing experience and primarily worked in the OR. She has held various management positions including director of surgery, director of medical and surgical services, vice president of patient services and director of rural health clinics.
Ms. Evec has helped improve efficiency at her center in many ways. “With the help of the staff, we developed an ordering system for supplies that now involves all of the staff and eliminated a part-time staff position,” she says. “We now order supplies two days a week, and it takes only about an hour to complete the process.”
Additionally, she worked with the business manager to reorganize the business office and implement new practices that reduced the number of days in A/R from 100 to 43. She worked with the clinical and anesthesia staffs to help pre-op and the PACU run more efficiently and to reduce the number of day-of-surgery cancellations.
Regarding her favorite aspect of being an administrator, Ms. Evec says, “I love the privilege and challenge of being involved in all aspects of the operations of the center. Coming from a clinical background, I have really enjoyed learning and being responsible for the business side of operations as well. I enjoy the fact that every day is different and that I have the ability and support of the medical staff to effect change when needed.”
Most of all, Ms. Evec enjoys working with her staff at the center. “We have a great team — one of the best I’ve ever worked with. They provide outstanding care to our patients and physicians and at the same time have fun doing it,” she says
Jennifer Hunara — Ms. Hunara is the administrator of the Surgery Center of Allentown (Pa.). The multi-specialty center opened in April 2007 with five operating rooms and 25 staff members and has grown to become one of the largest surgery centers in Pennsylvania with seven ORs and 65 staff. The center is a joint venture between the physicians and Ambulatory Surgical Centers of America.
Ms. Hunara has been with the center since its inception and came on staff six months prior to its opening. Previously, she was the executive director of surgical services for a hospital in the Robert Wood Johnson system and worked in all areas including GI, OR, pre-op and PACU. She was also the business manager or peri-operative systems for a hospital in the Lehigh Valley and was responsible for financials, IT and other areas of data management, which she says helped her to prepare for her move into managerial positions.
As far as the success and growth of the center, Ms. Hunara lauds her “strong” management team. The center has had no turnover in this department since 2007, which she sees as an advantage. “We’ve all been in it together,” she says. “You need all of the pieces of the puzzle to run well in order for the center to work.”
Ms. Hunara also notes the successful “Commitment to P3” program designed by her staff, which focuses on the center’s dedication to its three customer groups — patients, physicians and personnel. “It was an effort in culture building,” she says. “We sat down as a group and discussed what we liked and didn’t like, and as a result we were about to maintain our initial culture and grew substantially in seven months.”
Part of Ms. Hunara’s philosophy is that in healthcare, a job cannot become routine because physicians and staff are treating a patient, many of whom have never been in a surgery center environment before. “We have developed a culture where the staff cares about what they do and are here to treat patients,” she says. As a result, staff members at the center maintain a happy attitude and have a high rate of patient satisfaction.
Going into the future, Ms. Hunara see continued growth for her center through internal and community education. She has also started what she calls “cross-training” with the business office, bringing them into the ORs so that they can understand the procedures that they are billing.
Rosemary Lambie, RN, MEd, CNOR — Ms. Lambie is the administrator at the SurgiCenter of Baltimore, located in Owings Mills, Md. The center opened June 1989 and is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary. The center has five operating rooms and two procedure rooms, and according to Ms. Lambie, the center is expected to perform 4,500 cases this year.
Ms. Lambie has been with the SurgiCenter of Baltimore for 16 years, starting out as the director of surgical services and then moving into the role of administrator three years ago. She has been a perioperative nurse for the past 35 years and began her career as a staff nurse in an inpatient OR, moving up to become the head nurse of a hospital OR. Prior to coming to her current center, she was the head nurse of a 20-room OR in a regional medical center in Baltimore.
The ability to provide quality care while staying efficient and cost effective is what Ms. Lambie believes is the key to her center’s success. She also notes that the center has been able to add new procedures and revitalize specialties by embracing new technology.
As an effort to help staff continue to be invested in the success of the center, Ms. Lambie and her team developed an employee incentive bonus program in 2006. “It enables the staff to earn bonuses based on meeting certain operational targets,” she says. “This program allows the staff to reap the benefits of the center’s profitability thereby providing them with a real sense of ownership in the facility.”
One area that adds to the overall quality of patient care is the staff at Ms. Lambie’s center. “We are blessed with the best and brightest medical and nursing staff in the area,” she says. Additionally, she notes her center experiences very low turnover rates. “The average tenure among the staff is 11 years. In fact, five of my staff are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year along with the center,” she says.
Unfortunately, Ms. Lambie also understands the challenges centers and administrators face when a center isn’t doing as well. “Success is not always easily achieved,” she says. “Over the course of the past 20 years, we have had to make some difficult decisions including downsizing when volumes shifted.”
In spite of some difficult decisions she has had to make, Ms. Lambie enjoys her job, especially her involvement in both the clinical and business aspects of the center. “I am actively involved in the decision making process and have the support of my corporate and physician investors,” she says. “As compared to leadership role in a hospital setting, there is much more autonomy and trust for leadership in an ASC setting.”
Robert McDavitt, RN, MBA, CASC — Mr. McDavitt is the administrator of the Spring Surgery Center in Montgomery County, Texas. The center, scheduled to open in May 2009, will be multi-specialty and offer GI, followed by pain management, orthopedics, plastics and spine as the center becomes established.
Prior to joining Spring Surgery Center in Feb. 2009, Mr. McDavitt worked in many aspects of the ASC industry. He has been an administrator since 2003 and has worked with National Surgical Care and assisted a center enter into a corporate partnership with AmSurg. Mr. McDavitt is also a registered nurse and worked in the emergency department and ICU. Before coming to the ASC industry, he was a COO assistant administrator for a long-term acute care hospital chain. “I guess you could say I have worked with the longest- and shortest-stay patients,” he says.
Part being an excellent leader is Mr. McDavitt’s willingness to examine other industries for examples of effective business practices.
“I usually try to look outside of healthcare to other business models for inspiration,” Mr. McDavitt says of his leadership style. He has attended several training programs offered by Disney and has applied what he learned to the ASC industry. “The other thing that I have figured out is that building strong partnerships with credible, qualified vendors and great physician relationship skills are critical to success in the surgery center business.”
Mr. McDavitt appreciates the bonds he has created with physicians, staff and companies that he has worked with, especially while building Spring Surgery Center. This appreciation has carried over into his management style. “I try to stay humble and help others whenever I can because, goodness knows, I have been blessed with people helping me,” he says.
Most of all, Mr. McDavitt enjoys working with the patients, employees and physicians. “I try to take my clinical knowledge, use good financial judgment and make decisions as a team, rather than an individual,” he says. “You are close enough to the delivery of care that you can make a difference in patient’s, employee’s or physician’s life.”
Joe Majerus — Mr. Majerus is the administrator of Lakewalk Surgery Center in Duluth, Minn., a multi-specialty ASC that specializes in orthopedics, plastic surgery, gastroenterology, oral surgery, ophthalmology and pain management. He has been with center since it opened in 1999 and oversaw the building and development. Prior to coming to Lakewalk, Mr. Majerus served as a CFO for a hospital in Minnesota.
Mr. Majerus has seen success in creating an efficient ASC by training his nursing staff to work both in the center’s six operating rooms, three procedure rooms and 18 private recovery areas. “Building our six ORs exactly the same along with providing quality and technically current equipment in each has kept our scheduling of multi-specialty cases flexible and efficient,” he says.
Mr. Majerus has created annual stipends for staff as compensation for rotating “officerships” to help accomplish many of Lakewalk’s accreditation needs and requirements. “This has been educational and interesting for staff and helpful for me in obtaining our accreditations over the past 10 years,” he says.
Mr. Majerus reads every patient survey that comes through his center. “They remind me of the quality of the surgeons and staff here at Lakewalk,” he says. “We have, and pretty much have always had, a 97 percent approval rating, which we proudly publish on our Web site.”
The favorite aspect of being an administrator for Mr. Majerus is the variety of subjects he tackles and the range of responsibility he has on a daily basis. “We are an independent ASC and contract out very few things, so I end up managing our very own version of surgery center operations,” he says.
Mr. Majerus sees a bright future for Lakewalk. “We are constantly trying to expand those specialties we already have by doing more complex procedures and adding more providers, while exploring new specialties that are under served in our area. This constant searching has helped in our growth, kept us productive and contributed to our success over the past 10 years,” he says.
Linda Baxley Millard, RN, BS, CPHQ — Ms. Millard is the administrator of the Vail Valley Surgery Center in Vail, Colo., a multi-specialty surgery center, which performs mostly orthopedics procedures. The center, which opened in 2002, treats “some of the world’s top athletes” in its four operating rooms, according to Ms. Millard. Ms. Millard has been at Vail Valley since Jan. 2006.
In her 25 years in the healthcare industry, she has served as the CEO of a surgical hospital, administrator at another ASC, a government auditor and a critical care nurse. She has also held leadership positions in the insurance industry.
At Vail Valley, Ms. Millard has worked hard to improve staff recruitment and retention. She also recently led an initiative to convert to high definition within the center, and developed a program to significantly enhance block utilization and case volume Additionally, she has facilitated significant improvements to the revenue cycle. Coming up with these solutions is one part of her job that she enjoys. “I love the constant challenge to improve in all areas — clinically, operationally and financially,” she says.
Another aspect of her job that Ms. Millard enjoys is the opportunity she gets to work with “world-renowned surgeons who are continuously on the cutting edge.” She says, “The expectations are extremely high, but the rewards are absolutely worth it.”
Ms. Millard sees continued expansion and success for her center. “In spite of the current economic challenges, the center is continuing to experience growth in surgical volume,” she says.
Elaina Milliken — Ms. Milliken is the administrator of Eastern Orange Ambulatory Surgery Center in Cornwall, N.Y. — a joint venture with the Facility Development and Management and community physicians at St. Luke’s Cornwall Hospital System — and has served in this position since its inception. According to her colleagues, she has been instrumental in turning the center, which consists of four operating rooms and two procedure rooms, into a superb operational entity.
Before arriving at Eastern Orange, Ms. Milliken worked as an administrative director for a prestigious New York City medical center. According to her colleagues, her talent and experience has contributed to the successful implementation of operations at Eastern Orange, which includes the pivotal participation with the successful New York State Department of Health inspection and three-year accreditation from AAAHC.
Ms. Milliken works in collaboration with FDM staff and strives to identify opportunities with her team to maintain the center at optimum operations as well as balancing the needs of the members of the joint venture. A colleague says, “She accomplishes these goals by utilizing her talents for organization coupled with her awesome sense of humor and her flair for exceptional people skills. Her can-do attitude enables her to maintain the many aspects of running the center in an efficient and cost effective manner.”
David Moody, RN, BA — Mr. Moody is the administrator at Knightsbridge Surgery Center in Columbus, Ohio. The center opened in 2001 and is multi-specialty with four operating rooms and performs around 275 procedures monthly. Mr. Moody has been with the center for five years. Prior to coming to Knightsbridge, Mr. Moody, who also has a background in nursing, operated a number of refractive centers that performed Lasik eye surgery. He was also an administrator at a hospital in Columbus.
Recently, Mr. Moody assisted the center in a merger with Ohio Health System, which purchased 49 percent of the center. “We’re beginning our second year with Ohio Health, and it’s been a great merger,” he says.
Mr. Moody enjoys the latitude his job allows him and likes that he has the ability to “wear multiple hats.” “I’m not just an administrator,” he says. “I can be a scrub nurse or an OR nurse. I love interacting with the physicians.”
He also notes that he enjoys working with everyone at his center, from the management company, Regent Surgical Health, to the physicians to the clinic staff. “I have a great group of physicians who I consider friends and professional partners,” he says. “I can go on vacation and trust that my incredible staff runs everything the way it should be run.”
Mr. Moody sees continued growth and profitability for his center through enriching its relationship with the hospital and adding new surgeons to the center. Most of all, he finds his work at Knightsbridge “fulfilling.” “I love to come to work in the morning,” he says.
Michael Pankey, RN, MBA — Mr. Pankey is the administrator of the Ambulatory Surgery Center of Spartanburg in Spartanburg, S.C., a multi-specialty center with seven operating rooms and two endoscopy suites. The center opened in April 2002 and is a joint venture with Spartanburg Regional Hospital.
Before coming to the Ambulatory Surgery Center of Spartanburg, Mr. Pankey served as administrator and clinical resources manager at different locations. His background is in nursing, and he worked in the operating room at several hospitals. He served for 10 years in the U.S. Army Reserve. Mr. Pankey also served as the president of the South Carolina Ambulatory Surgery Center Association.
Mr. Pankey has seen his center through many successes. One achievement that he is particularly proud of is the addition of GI to his center in its second year. “We introduced propofol anesthesia to the specialty in our area,” he says. “This makes our patients more comfortable and our GI practitioners more efficient. This specialty now accounts for 30 percent of the business in the center.”
For Mr. Pankey, running an efficient business and providing quality care to the community are his favorite aspects of his job. “My clinical director has told me that she can tell that I enjoy watching an efficient process,” he says. “I guess she is right. I love to watch the staff at Waffle House. They seem to have an ability to control confusion. I guess looking at a busy surgery center must look a lot like that to an outsider.”
Aiding him in running this efficient center is his entire staff. “The environment is one of cooperation and teamwork. This makes an administrator’s job much easier,” he says.
Mr. Pankey sees expansion in his center’s future, as they are currently performing 11,500 cases annually. “The great staff here has shown that our efficiency and organization can increase the output in the existing footprint,” he says.
Linda Rahm — Ms. Rahm is the administrator at Pioneer Valley Surgicenter in Springfield, Mass. The multi-specialty center performs GI, ENT, orthopedics, general surgery, urology and plastics procedures in its two operating rooms and four procedure rooms.
Ms. Rahm has been with the center since it opened in 2003. She has worn many hats in the medical field throughout her career. Previously, she served as COO for multi-specialty group, CEO of a specialty hospital and skilled nursing facility, the administrator of an assisted living complex, regional director for a rehabilitation company and was an occupational therapist for a traumatic brain injury center.
Currently, Ms. Rahm serves as the president for the Massachusetts Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers. Additionally, she enjoys the opportunities she has had with her involvement in National Quality Collaborative projects.
A colleague said of her leadership, “She is an extremely talented woman, well versed in negotiations, efficiency and overall cost savings measures. She is very active with the legislation in Massachusetts legislature and has done a tremendous amount of work for the MAASC fighting legislation, holding fundraisers and speaking at the State House and working to improve our overall well-being.”
Ms. Rahm enjoys the affordable care that her center provides to the patients. “We strive to keep the cost of healthcare in check with the service we provide,” she says.
Ms. Rahm also loves working with the staff at her center. “I get to work every day with the excellent business office staff and highly specialized clinical and medical staff,” she says.
Ms. Rahm sees continued success for her center. “I see a lot for the future of my center, including adding ophthalmology, expanding ENT and moving into an EMR. Most significant is getting our state license, allowing us to finally serve the Medicaid population equal to those under private insurance or Medicare,” she says.
Anne Roberts, RN — Ms. Roberts is the administrator at the Surgery Center at Reno (Nev.), which she says “represents a success story of a turnaround facility from a poorly performing center to a very profitable multi-specialty ASC.”
Surgery Center at Reno focuses on spine, orthopedics, pain management, ENT, general surgery and bariatric surgery, as well as several other specialties. In addition to performing surgeries in its five operating rooms, the center has two procedure rooms and offers 23 hour stays for patients. The surgery center also has a unique ownership model which consists of physician partners with a majority ownership, a hospital partner — Saint Mary’s Hospital in Reno — and a managing partner — Regent Surgical Health.
Ms. Roberts came to the Surgery Center at Reno in Feb. 2006 when it opened and became administrator in Oct. 2006. She began her career as a nurse in the emergency department, spending 16 years as a staff nurse and 10 years as the manager of a busy ED seeing 55,000 patients annually. “The experience in the ED setting has provided me with the ability to multitask, manage multiple, often competing priorities while fostering the provision of patient care, managing a complex budget, mentoring of employees and continuous assessment of the services being provided,” she says.
Over the past few years, Ms. Roberts has overseen a lot of growth at her center. Recently, it obtained AAAHC accreditation and went through all of the process changes necessary to receive this seal of patient safety excellence. In addition, the center has created a “progressive spine program, pain management program and excellent orthopedic service line. We started an outpatient bariatric program shortly after we took over the facility,” she says.
“I am very proud of the excellent care we provide to our patients with a focus on exceeding the physician and patient’s expectations,” Ms. Roberts says. “During the past three years, we have made some very difficult changes in the center to be a premier provider of patient care. I love the challenge!”
Catherine Sayers, RN — Ms. Sayers is the administrator for Skyline Endoscopy Center, a single-specialty GI endoscopy center, in Loveland, Colo. She assisted with development of the ASC, which opened in 2004, and has maintained a management role since that time. Ms. Sayers is also director of clinical operations for Pinnacle III, and in this role she has developed or managed 13 single- and multi-specialty ASCs throughout the country. Prior to working for Pinnacle III, she was director of surgical services at the Orthopaedic Center of the Rockies in Fort Collins, Colo., where she managed the ASC and a 10-bed recovery center.
According to her colleagues, Ms. Sayers, “an astute business woman,” was able to create a profitable center in short order and continues to do so despite the significant cuts gastroenterology centers have experienced under current Medicare reimbursement. Rather than consider this a hindrance, Ms. Sayers says, “This provides constant incentive to find ways to decrease and manage expenses while continuing to provide outstanding patient care and customer service.”
One of Ms. Sayers’ most successful initiatives as an administrator has been implementing an employee-incentive plan. “Through this plan, employees share in the distributions paid to investors,” she says. “They receive a percentage of the distributed amount if they have met pre-established goals and criteria. I believe this program provides incentive for the staff to be cost conscious, efficient and work as a team. They are rewarded as a member of the ASC team; therefore, they truly feel like an integral part of the ASC.”
Ms. Sayers says her staff at Skyline is a crucial asset to the center’s success. “Every staff member is dedicated to providing the highest quality care and excellent customer service,” she says. “They are lead by an exceptional nurse manager, who is a joy to work with, and they function as a dynamic team.”
She says that one of her favorite things about the work of an administrator is her involvement with different physicians and their staffs. “I have truly enjoyed interacting and working with these varying groups, through tough situations and great successes,” she says.
Stephanie Stinson, RN, BSN — Ms. Stinson is the administrative director of the Strictly Pediatrics Surgery Center in Austin, Texas. The center opened on Apr. 30, 2007, and is an exclusive, “pediatric-only” ASC. “I am very proud of the fact that there is only a handful in the country,” Ms. Stinson says. The multi-specialty center includes ENT, orthopedics, GI, general surgery, plastics, ophthalmology and urology and has six operating rooms.
Ms. Stinson has served administrative director at the center since its inception in 2006 and has overseen its growth to a fully functional surgery center that performs more than 400 procedures monthly. She has been a nurse for 16 years and has served as a staff nurse in the neurology/surgical ICU, surgery and the recovery room. She was a surgical technologist in the Mississippi Army National Guard for eight years prior to and while becoming an RN.
One aspect Ms. Stinson enjoys about her center is that it “provides a safe, pleasant and economical place for children to come have surgery.” She says, “It is an atmosphere created here by a very caring staff that tries really hard to provide a fun non-threatening environment. In fact, when siblings come for their sister’s/brother’s surgery, they leave stating ‘they want to come have surgery.’
“If we have kids leaving here saying things like that, it really makes you proud of your organization, and it gives you a sense of pride that you must be doing something right,” says Ms. Stinson.
Ms. Stinson loves the challenges that she experiences on the job and learns something new every day in her position. She enjoys the administrative and clinical aspects and that multi-tasking keeps her busy as day-to-day operations are constantly changing. “One minute you may be recovering a patient, educating the staff on policy and procedure changes, credentialing a new physician or processing HR paperwork on a new employee and that was all in the first hour of your day. I love the fact that you as an individual are always stimulated mentally and physically,” she says.
Handling these challenges enables Ms. Stinson to see that her center keeps growing. Strictly Pediatrics is looking to enclose some of their recovery areas, which will allow the center to keep some patients overnight. “During that process we will also extend our recovery room area to allow for more volume,” she says. “We have already outgrown ourselves!”
Cindy Young, RN, CASC — Ms. Young is the administrator of the Surgery Center of Farmington (Mo.). The multi-specialty center, which opened in 1999, has two operating rooms and two procedure rooms. Physicians at the center perform around 450 cases monthly, according to Ms. Young, and its top three specialties are ophthalmology, pain management and GI. Recently, the center added ENT to its specialties.
Ms. Young has been at the Surgery Center of Farmington since it opened, starting as a staff nurse and moving into the administrator position in 2002. Prior to coming to the center, she was a nurse at a rural hospital for five years and served for two years in the OR at the hospital.
“I absolutely love my job,” says Ms. Young. “I love ambulatory surgery. I found my niche.” She credits the success of her center and herself to her staff and physicians. “We work together as a family,” she says, and as a result, many people from outside who come into the center have noted its unique environment.
She also credits a part of her success to the support she receives from Woodrum/ASD, which manages the center. “If it wasn’t for them giving me the administrator opportunity and supporting me I wouldn’t be where I’m at,” she says.
Ms. Young has succeeded in creating a work place where the staff doesn’t hold grudges. “If we come across problems, we are able to go home and come back the next day, feeling new,” she says. “We make mistakes and move on.”
Most of all, Ms. Young says she considers the staff and physicians she works with her friends. “We have a personal relationship that is separate from our professional relationship,” she says. With this positive spirit, Ms. Young hopes to see her center continue to grow.
