In an April interview with Becker’s ASC Review, Ms. Speier discussed key traits of successful ASC administrators, highlighting the importance of decision-making and customer service. A great administrator should “understand who the customer is and what it takes to delight these customers,” Ms. Speier says. Because an ASC administrator is responsible for keeping both patients and physicians happy, the best ones know how to balance their time and priorities to keep their customers — the physicians — and their customers’ customers — the patients — satisfied.
While they should be in touch with the needs of their staff, Ms. Speier says administrators should not micromanage too closely. If an administrator acts as a coach rather than a dictator, they will grow successful, independent employees and won’t have to spend too much time directing every staff member’s individual movements.
At the same time, she said administrators have to make decisions on a daily basis, and an administrator who procrastinates or waffles on an issue will run into trouble. This includes all types of decisions, she says: “small ones, big ones, hard ones and easy ones. Especially the hard ones.”
Prior to joining NovaMed, Ms. Speier served as senior vice president for Symbion Healthcare, a Nashville, Tenn.-based surgery center company, from 2001-2007. At Symbion, she managed a significant portion of the company’s multi-specialty surgery centers and handled development of selected surgery centers and hospital joint ventures.
From 1994 to 2001, she was senior vice president and chief compliance officer for Vision America. She has also served in senior management positions for Medcath, Medivision and Medical International. Ms. Speier is a registered nurse who trained at the San Bernardino School of Nursing.
