Eyeworld

EW NEWS & OPINION 4 March 2016 "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 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 physi- cian to focus on the patients 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 members "depend more than ever" on ASOA administrators. "The role of the administrator has grown tremendously in the information age. With electronic medical records, 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 member focused. "They listen closely to the members, they answer every last 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 were pro- viding information that they abso- lutely 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. "I thought, these people are learning so much we need to give them some credentials," Ms. Santiago said. 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. Christine Kung, an ophthalmic administrator who has been an ASOA member for more than a de- cade, said she only recently decided to obtain certification, after thinking she didn't really need it before. In the end, it was a process that exceed- ed her expectations. "It was something I never thought was necessary because of my experiences in ophthalmology and because of my MBA degree," said Ms. Kung, who works at the Staten Island Ophthalmology & Academic Eye Center with offices in New York and New Jersey. "However, when I started getting involved with the [ASOA] program committee, I ASOA continued from page 3 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. Steve Robinson, ASOA past president (2003–2005), presents Ms. Santiago with a plaque upon her retirement in 2005. thought, I should get the COE certi- fication. "Last year, when I went to the ASOA Congress, I took the COE review course, and I found it helpful because they covered every aspect of ophthalmic administration. In the past, I thought my knowledge was comprehensive, but during the course, I realized I was weaker in cer- tain topics. The review course high- lighted areas that needed reinforced learning," she said, adding that she did pass the exam. ASOA's current president John Bell said the EyeMail listserv has become an invaluable tool for mem- bers. "It's been around for awhile, but that's the day-to-day, ask-a-ques- tion-get-an-answer-back value of ASOA," Mr. Bell said. "If I'm facing an issue that came up today, I can put a question up on the listserv, and 20 minutes later, I start getting answers." Ms. Santiago said she found the willingness of ASOA members

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