If your ambulatory surgery center is in the market for a new administrator, here are 13 questions Dawn Q. McLane, RN, MSA, CASC, CNOR, regional vice president of Health Inventures, suggests you ask candidates. Administrators can use this checklist as a guide for information they might want to know before going into an interview and questions they might want to ask about the ASC.
1. Have you held previous administrator positions and, if so, how many years of experience do you have? “If they have held previous administrator positions, what type of ASC — single-specialty, multi-specialty?” says Ms. McLane. “What specialties have they worked with in the past? I think its important to know that. If its a heavily orthopedic center Im recruiting for, then have they worked with orthopods before? If Im working with a GI center, have they worked with GI physicians before?”
2. How large were the previous ASC(s) you worked in? “Was it a two-OR ASC or five-OR center?” she says. “The more ORs usually means a busier center and more responsibility” for the administrator.
3. Do you have clinical experience, business office experience or both? “I definitely want to know this,” she says. “If they have clinical experience, is it in the operating room or the perioperative area? This helps me get a good feel for where theyre coming from. Is their expertise in the OR or are they a PACU nurse? They think differently, they perceive the surgery center differently.”
4. What kind of experience do you have with payor contracting? “Have they had someone do it for them in the past?” Ms. McLane says. “Maybe they worked at an ASC where the hospital partner did all of the contracting for the surgery center. You want to know at what level they have been involved in payor contracting.”
5. Are you CASC (Certified Administrator Surgery Center) certified? “That tells me a little bit about their competency level and it tells me theyre interested enough in being an administrator to get the credential,” Ms. McLane says.
6. Where is the ASC(s) you previously worked at located? “You want to know what geographic area they have worked in and are they familiar with the area were recruiting to,” she says. “Have they worked in this state before? Are they familiar with the state rules and regulations for our particular state? Not that they cant learn the state rules, but if they already have a familiarity then thats a plus.”
7. Do you have experience working in diverse areas? “For example, I have a [California center] with a very high Vietnamese population and many of the physicians who work there are Vietnamese,” she says. While candidates for administrator at this center would not necessarily need to speak Vietnamese, “they need to have a cultural competence that demonstrates an understanding of how to manage in a culturally diverse organization with a very large international population,” she says.
8. Are you familiar with our market? “This is pinpointed more toward the candidate’s knowledge of local / regional payors and competition within the market,” says Ms. McLane. “Who are the payors in your market, who is the competition in your market and are they familiar with them at all?”
9. (For ASCs with a management company with expectations/requirements): Are you prepared to work in the corporate environment? “Thats something thats very important to know,” Ms. McLane says. “If theyve never worked in a corporate culture before where theres a corporate manager or RVP, they might struggle with the expectations of a corporate entity. Some people who have never worked in that environment feel that the corporate entity is just creating more work for them and they dont always support the corporate entity or understand and appreciate the benefits
“If the person doesnt have experience working at a corporate entity, I would ask them to tell me what they think the value-adds that a corporate entity brings to this relationship,” she says. “Its not for everyone. Some people much prefer a very independent way of managing and others love having the corporate entitys support.”
10. (For ASCs with a hospital or health system partner with expectations/requirements): Are you prepared to work with a hospital/health system? “You want to know they can communicate effectively and how they will deal with a hospital or healthcare system partner,” Ms. McLane says. “What kind of experience they have in that area?”
11. (For ASCs with a board that has expressed specific needs or expectations): Do you meet the requirements of our board? “That could be something like the ASC board wants only to interview clinical candidates and maybe they are not willing to consider candidates without an RN,” she says. “Ive had that happen before, where the board has only wanted to interview someone with a clinical background or financial background. I think sometimes it just has something to do with an experience in their recent history. .”
12. Can you handle the specific challenges of our center? “Every center has a unique personality. It has specific needs they desire to be a met,” says Ms. McLane. “It may be a center thats in its first year of operations and will need someone who can move them successfully through the startup period. Maybe its a mature center thats starting to decline, physicians are retiring or are moving away from the community and there hasnt been a good recruitment process in place in the past and now the center needs to recruit and to implement a succession plan.. It could be an ASC with a disengaged investor body and we need someone with the talent, experience and a personality to talk to the doctors and engage them again.
“Each center has its own individual personality,” she says. “The person youre hiring as the administrator, must understand the unique challenges for that center and you must determine whether their talents and personality will be a match with the specific culture and needs of your center.”
13. (For ASCs expecting a dual role for their administrator): Are you prepared to also hold the position of director or nursing or business office manager? Some small centers may not have a DON or BOM and may expect the administrator to assume dual roles,” says Ms. McLane. “That all feeds into the type of qualifications and competencies youre looking for in your administrator.”
3. Do you have clinical experience, business office experience or both? “I definitely want to know this,” she says. “If they have clinical experience, is it in the operating room or the perioperative area? This helps me get a good feel for where theyre coming from. Is their expertise in the OR or are they a PACU nurse? They think differently, they perceive the surgery center differently.”
If your ambulatory surgery center is in the market for a new administrator, here are 13 questions Dawn Q. McLane, RN, MSA, CASC, CNOR, regional vice president of Health Inventures, suggests you ask candidates. Administrators can use this checklist as a guide for information they might want to know before going into an interview and questions they might want to ask about the ASC.
“If the person doesnt have experience working at a corporate entity, I would ask them to tell me what they think the value-adds that a corporate entity brings to this relationship,” she says. “Its not for everyone. Some people much prefer a very independent way of managing and others love having the corporate entitys support.”
1. Have you held previous administrator positions and, if so, how many years of experience do you have? “If they have held previous administrator positions, what type of ASC — single-specialty, multi-specialty?” says Ms. McLane. “What specialties have they worked with in the past? I think its important to know that. If its a heavily orthopedic center Im recruiting for, then have they worked with orthopods before? If Im working with a GI center, have they worked with GI physicians before?”
6. Where is the ASC(s) you previously worked at located? “You want to know what geographic area they have worked in and are they familiar with the area were recruiting to,” she says. “Have they worked in this state before? Are they familiar with the state rules and regulations for our particular state? Not that they cant learn the state rules, but if they already have a familiarity then thats a plus.”
In my current role, I work in a team of 10, we all report to one manager who reports into the director of the company. I also have one person who reports into myself. As part of my role, I have on occasions stood in for my manager and have provided updates on team performance and project progression to the director.
Always be positive about your reasons for joining and leaving a company. Be very careful that you do not say anything negative about your present employer. If you do, the new company will wonder what you will say about them when you leave. You might want to stress that you are looking for a new challenge and that you feel that the company that is interviewing you fits the bill!
I am cool under pressure and I am able to find a positive in any situation to overcome the challenge. For example, in my previous role, I had a deadline to organise x project. I decided to utilise the expertise of those around me to support me in completing the project on time.
It’s important to realise, this sort of question may be used to find out whether your old job is at a comparable level to your new job. If the new job being discussed would be a step up the ladder you will need to show that you are ready for a more demanding position. You may be able to show that you have already had many of the responsibilities and the necessary skills which would be required for the next step.
Choose characteristics that fit with the role you are interviewing for. If it is a sales role, talk about soft skills such as communication. If it’s a finance role, perhaps attention to detail. Either way, keep it relevant. There is a tendency from people to only focus on the positive traits but it shows a good level of self-awareness if you can balance the answer perhaps with an area of development that you or another has identified for you to work on.