Finding Success as a New ASC Administrator: 7 Recommendations

Taking on a new job is never easy, but in an ASC, no position is likely to be more challenging than that of the administrator. Administrators shoulder a significant amount of responsibility, making critical financial, clinical and operational decisions every day — decisions that can have a long-lasting impact on the ASC's success.

This was the reality faced by Alexis Greenlee when she took on the administrator role for Cornell Surgery Center in Beaverton, Ore., in May 2017. Greenlee joined the ASC as a surgery scheduler not long after it opened, gradually climbing the ranks in the business office. But the opportunity to become administrator was a surprise.

"The previous administrator decided to move out of the area and asked if she could recommend to the board that I take over her position," she says. "I had never envisioned myself as the administrator, but I loved working there and wanted to do whatever I could to help the center be successful, so I agreed."

Reflecting back after more than a year into her position as the administrator, Greenlee acknowledges that she had a lot more to do and learn to adequately fill the role than she initially expected. Here are seven of her recommendations to help new ASC administrators find success.

1. Appreciate the scope of the position. While your title may not change, what does is the various positions you will need to fill each day, Greenlee says. "Some days I'm a counselor. Some days I'm a mediator. Some days I'm the janitor taking the trash out. Some days I'm a public relations rep. Some days I play intermediary between staff, physicians, patients and our ASC's different departments."

   An administrator needs to be a jack-of-all-trades, she says. "That can be very stressful, especially when the task at hand is something you’ve not done. I thought that since I had been at the Cornell Surgery Center for a long time, I already knew most of the ins and outs. But there was a lot more that happened operationally than I had ever realized until I could see behind the curtain."




2. Be visible. Considering her financial background, Greenlee says she thought she would spend most of her time behind a desk, reviewing data and reports. She found out quickly that would not — and should not— be the case.

   "You're never going to be a productive and successful administrator just sitting at a desk," she says. "You need to walk around and visit your ASC's various departments. Every day, I come into the center, change into scrubs and go to each department, asking my staff how they are doing and if they need anything. As administrator, I need to have my finger on the pulse of the entire facility, not just those areas in which I feel most comfortable."




3. Evaluate your staff. As a leader of your ASC, Greenlee says new administrators need to gain a strong understanding of their staff members' strengths and weaknesses to help them achieve their full potential.

   "Take the time to carefully evaluate each member of your team and make sure they are in the right position to succeed," she says. "It's your job to help bring out the best of each individual and maximize what they bring to the team."




4. Evaluate yourself. “Don't overlook the importance of evaluating your own strengths and weaknesses”, Greenlee says.

   "In my case, I knew my strengths were more financial - running reports, case costing and using QuickBooks™," she says. "My weaknesses were more on the clinical side. I had never been in sterile processing before. I had never been in the storage room or spent much time in our operating rooms. I identified that those were places where I needed to spend more time so I could better understand the responsibilities of my staff and how to best support them."

   “Don't hesitate to admit when you lack knowledge about these other responsibilities”, Greenlee says. "When you're a leader, it can be difficult to ask team members questions because you don't want to show weakness. I view it differently. The reason I got to where I am today was because someone gave me a chance and I was willing to ask questions. I wanted to do this job the same way. I would say to my team, 'I'm willing to help out; just show me where this needs to go or how to turn this machine on.' The team was very receptive to this approach. I think they respected the fact that the person who was sitting in the administrator's office didn't think she knew it all."




5. Prepare for a lot of HR work. To Greenlee, the most surprising aspect of serving as an administrator was the amount of time spent on human resources (HR) issues. "My predecessor didn't really prepare me for the HR component of my job. Many of my days are spent dealing with issues concerning my staff and physicians and even issues at my physicians' offices."




6. Learn the needs of your board. Critical to a new administrator's success is understanding what issues are important to the ASC's governing board, Greenlee says.

   "When I was starting out as administrator, I took everything to the board because I really wasn't sure where they stood on certain issues," she says. "I didn't want to assume anything. I worked to determine what issues I needed to take to them and what issues they were entrusting me to handle without their input."




7. Understand your bylaws and operating agreement. Greenlee says learning her center’s bylaws and operating agreement may have been her biggest hurdle.

   "Issues like the buying and selling of ownership shares don't come up frequently," she says. "As a result, they're probably something my predecessor didn't think about reviewing with me. But right at the beginning of my, there was a sale of shares. I stayed up late on many nights reading through our bylaws and operating agreement, speaking with our lawyer and looking back on how we previously handled sales. That gathering of information took a while. Fortunately, when I need to go through this again, I will have all these great resources available to me."

Stay Positive

For people willing to take on the challenge, Greenlee says serving as an administrator can be a gratifying and exciting career path, but one that will prove challenging and emotionally taxing at times.

"It is a very stressful position, but your success is all about your outlook," she says. "You can come into your ASC every day and either make it a good or a bad day. You can dwell on your mistakes and mishaps or you can learn from them and better yourself. The decision to become an administrator is not for the faint-of-heart, but with the right attitude and effort, it can be a very rewarding experience."

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