ASC Management
Making Your First, Crucial Hire
How to decide who's qualified to be your ASC clinic manager.

BY MYRIAM ASSOULINE, B.SC.N., M.H.A.

 The success of an ambulatory surgical center (ASC) depends on the quality of care it delivers and on the customer service it provides. Both are greatly influenced by the caliber of employees hired to work at the ASC. To build an effective team, you must employ several and various people in key functions.

The first person you need to hire is the clinic manager (CM). As the physician, you must focus on surgery and patient care. The right clinic manager will allow you to do so by being in charge of all operational aspects of the center and being your right-hand person.

THE IDEAL CLINIC MANAGER

The ideal candidate should have expertise in the following areas:

Human resources management.

• staff recruitment: putting together and placing ads; a repertoire of recruitment strategies
• staff hiring: interviewing skills; setting up salary scales according to the market; knowledge of labor laws and human rights
• staff training: creating a training program
• staff evaluation: evaluating other staff members' job performance
• staff scheduling: producing a multidisciplinary staff schedule, using the optimal full-time/part-time ratio, that decreases use of overtime hours
• staff workload: measurement systems; productivity indicators.

Financial management.

• banking: preparing bank deposits
• accounting: basic skills
• budgeting: performing budget variation analysis.

Inventory management.

• ordering process: acquisition of supplies (minimum order quantity, par levels, consumption rates)
• stocking process: the restocking of supplies.

Information systems.

• administration: MS Office software; Internet; e-mail; patient scheduling; inventory management; payroll
• clinical: diagnostic equipment; electronic medical records.

Technology transfer.

• researching and introducing new technology
• implementing new technology
• evaluating new technology.

Customer service.

• patient management: the ability to deal with patient-related issues
• patient flow: organization of labor; patient wait times
• customer feedback: obtaining and acting on patient feedback.

Quality control.

• government: familiarity with accreditation process
• clinical: identifying, implementing, and monitoring the ASC's quality-control measures.

Medical knowledge.

• emergency procedures: ability to identify and act in emergency situations
• healthcare-related training: knowledge of medical terminology and patient-care issues.

At this point, you might be asking yourself: Does a person who possesses all of these skills really exist? Absolutely.

Usually, a person who has a degree in a healthcare-related field such as nursing or who is certified as an ophthalmic medical technologist, and also has taken management courses or earned an M.B.A. or a Masters in Healthcare Administration will be qualified.

A good way to recruit such a person is to place your ad in the career section of a local newspaper; in a trade publication, such as the Journal of Nursing Administration; or on the job Web sites of the American Organization of Nurse Executives, Ophthalmology Nursing, or the American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators.

OTHER KEY ATTRIBUTES

It's crucial to assess knowledge, but you should also evaluate your CM candidates on:

• responsibility (prioritization, time management, accountability)
• communication skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing)
• interpersonal skills (teamwork, relationships)
• past management experience relevant to this position
• adaptability
• integrity (ethics, honesty, loyalty)
• critical thinking (problem solving, decision making).

The best way to assess these types of attributes is to create situations for the candidate to solve. For example, to assess prioritization skills, you might list five situations to manage or tasks to accomplish. The order in which the candidate decides to prioritize will determine whether the candidate understands the importance of each situation and the consequences of his or her decisions.

Also, how a candidate answers questions such as "How would you solve the problem of a tardy employee or long patient wait time?" will give you an indication of how the candidate attempts to solve problems.

YOU'RE ON YOUR WAY

Once you hire the CM, he or she will hire the rest of your ASC team. All prospective recruits should have a formal, structured interview. This emphasizes the serious nature of the hiring process and adds value to the position. All candidates should also be assessed for professionalism and attitude.

Additionally, it's important to evaluate each potential candidate's long-term career goals. You may not want to hire and train someone whose intentions are only short-term.

Finally, your ASC should implement employer-employee contracts that stipulate work hours, required availability, salary, bonuses, and vacation. This prevents misunderstandings between parties.

Having the right staff will directly affect the success of your ASC.

Myriam Assouline, B.Sc.N., M.H.A., is a healthcare consultant and the director of LASIK MD in Montreal. You can e-mail her at massouline@aol.com, or call her at (514) 685-0188.