ASOA EyeTalks Radio: Recent Episodes
American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators (ASOA), A Strategic Partner of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery
EyeTalks Radio delivers strategies and techniques for success in the field of ophthalmic practice management through rich content and periodic interviews with subject matter experts on topics of interest to those who run the business side of ophthalmology including: human resources, practice development and benchmarking, government and regulatory compliance, productivity, and more.
Discover how leading practices across the country are simplifying dry eye care, increasing compliance, and unlocking new revenue streams – all without disrupting workflow.
This podcast is presented by ASOA Gold Strategic Business Partner
A recent survey found staffing challenges, including hiring and turnover, to be the top challenge for specialty healthcare practices. If alleviating staffing challenges at your practice is a priority, tune in to see how you can break the cycle. Cory Kirspel, Chief Technology Officer at Clearwave, joins us to share what Ophthalmology practices are doing to successfully increase practice productivity, without more staff!
This episode of EyeTalks Radio is presented by ASOA Platinum Strategic Business Partner:
Take a listen to the latest episode of ASOA EyeTalks Radio, presented by ASOA Gold Strategic Business Partner, SamaCare. ASOA chats with 30+ year revenue cycle management expert Erin Bishop, RCM COE Manager at EyeCare Partners, and 25+ year medical technology veteran Kip Theno, VP of Provider Partnerships at SamaCare about challenges retina practices are facing when it comes to ensuring patients get on the right treatment, without administrative delay, and that practices get reimbursed for buy-and-bill drugs. This episode of EyeTalks Radio is presented by ASOA Gold Strategic Business Partner:
Commit to building empowered relationships that achieve mutually rewarding goals. Nurture healthy interdependence with your staff, your family/friends and community to live/work with a shared sense of wholeness, safety, and purpose.
Mentoring helps build relationships. When you have a new employee joining your team and they have a mentor at work, they have started a working relationship with their mentor that will help them through the transition into your practice culture.
This episode is sponsored by ASOA Platinum Strategic Business Partner:
What had started as a slow painful drought became a torrential downpour of applicants. This shift taught us to be both careful about what we wished for and grateful for answered prayers.
Quiet quitting is not as straightforward as one might think. It’s worth considering the real cost: one’s physical and mental health. If you go against your natural inclinations to perform your job in a manner that feels positive, you’d be better off working where you are celebrated, not just tolerated. As a leader, though, you must keep your team engaged.
What makes a leader in ophthalmic administration? Do managers make good leaders? And do good leaders make good mentors? Angela, Patti, and Carrie lead the discussion on leadership in this episode.
This episode of EyeTalks Radio is sponsored by ASOA Diamond Strategic Business Partner:
Setting good boundaries at work can help preserve job satisfaction, increase productivity, reduce burnout, and can set an example for others. Poor boundaries can create confusion, disappointment, and conflict. Angela, Carrie, and Patti talk about boundaries in this episode.
This episode of EyeTalks Radio is sponsored by ASOA Diamond Strategic Business Partner:
Reality versus perception. Contrasting leader and staff experiences. Common perception gaps and how to close them. In this episode, Angela, Patti, and Carrie keep it real about reality.
This episode is sponsored by ASOA Platinum Strategic Business Partner:
Angela, Patti, and Carrie talk about the benefits and potential drawbacks of humor in the workplace, and how good humor can make good leaders.
This episode is sponsored by ASOA Gold Strategic Business Partner:
Work hours. Accountability. Completion of tasks. Loyalty to the vision. Pulling a fair share of responsibility. In this episode, we are talking about work ethic.
Your vision for your organization should be its guiding purpose; the ideal that your mission and values are built towards. In this episode, Angela, Patti, and Carrie discuss how they created a common vision for their organizations with their physicians.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T—It’s not just a song, it’s a two-way street. In this episode, Angela, Patti, and Carrie discuss the elements of respect, how to earn it, how it’s earned, and how it’s maintained.
In today’s episode, Angela talks with Patti and Carrie about COMMUNICATION. It is so important to identify and develop clear and positive communication between you and your providers, and we’ll hear how this team has accomplished it.
ASOA's EyeTalks Radio podcast presents its new limited subseries, The Administrator-Physician Relationship. Join host Angela Casazza, MHA, PMP, COE, Executive Director of Lexington Eye Associates Inc. (and ASOA's Board of Directors ABC Liaison), Patti Barkey, COE, CEO of Bowden Eye & Associates (and ASOA's Board of Directors President Elect), and Carrie Jacobs, COE, OCS, Executive VP of Operations of Chu Vision Institute (and ASOA's Board of Directors Member at-Large) as they discuss what's to come.
During the public health emergency, hybrid visits have proven so successful that some practices plan to use them long-term. Using the hybrid visit model may help you endure some of the challenges while delivering safe, high-quality care.
We must commit as much time to building these key relationships as we commit to improving our business processes. Proactively investing in building good relationships is a much better use of your time and energy than experiencing the dissolution of a once amicable partnership.
This episode of EyeTalks Radio is sponsored by ASOA Platinum Strategic Business Partner:
Follow these steps and the oft overlooked or siloed optical department might be a nascent goldmine for clinic revenue and customer happiness.
This episode of EyeTalks Radio is sponsored by ASOA Diamond Strategic Business Partner:
Despite best efforts, your physician may still face litigation at some future point. No one wants to be facing a lawsuit, but you can help your physician—and practice—survive.
This episode of EyeTalks Radio is sponsored by ASOA Diamond Strategic Business Partner:
An interview with Jim Sluck, Vice President at TearCare Marketing and Matt Jensen, CEO of Vance Thompson Vision, Sioux Falls, SD and beyond on the topic of activating dry eye in practice.
This episode of EyeTalks Radio is presented by ASOA Diamond Strategic Business Partner:
Terez Spencer, System Administrator at Woolfson Eye Institute, and Dr. Michael Rivers, Sr. Medical Director of Ophthalmology at ModMed, share some tips on how to increase engagement and connections with your patients and discuss how automation can help your practice achieve better work-life balance and reduce burnout.
This episode of EyeTalks Radio is presented by ASOA Diamond Strategic Business Partner:
Work-from-home employees need to feel connected to your company. Before you convert your staff to work-from-home, there are some important things to consider such as ideal work hours, work environment, flexibility, secure communications, and motivation.
This episode of EyeTalks Radio is sponsored by ASOA Diamond Strategic Business Partner:
Kristi Bolinger, Specialty Director with NextGen Healthcare and Ty Allen, CEO of SocialClimb share best practices on how to market your eye care practice.
This episode of EyeTalks Radio is presented by ASOA Diamond Strategic Business Partner:
When staff recognize our earnest desire to empower them, especially when we redirect, correct, and even discipline them in the hope of their making an adjustment that leads to growth and improvement, they shift from fear to respect.
This episode of EyeTalks Radio is sponsored by ASOA Diamond Strategic Business Partner:
An interview with Jim Sluck, Vice President at TearCare Marketing and Sharon Brown, COT, COE, Director of Operations at Ophthalmic Consultants of Boston on the topic of dry eye.
This episode of EyeTalks Radio is presented by ASOA Diamond Strategic Business Partner:
The current pandemic is not only testing us but providing an opportunity to grow in the face of adversity. Let us continue to learn from each of our current experiences and lead with personal accountability, strategic thinking, and available tactical tools to forge forward and make a positive difference in the industry we love for years to come.
This episode of EyeTalks Radio is sponsored by ASOA Diamond Strategic Business Partner:
Regulatory compliance is an ever-evolving, never-ending struggle in an ASC. The requirements and corresponding documentation are voluminous and can be overwhelming. This is especially true in a smaller, part-time ASC, where the nursing director often has sole responsibility for compliance management. Avail yourself of useful resources and stick to the KISS principle to keep your ASC on track and out of trouble.
This episode of EyeTalks Radio is sponsored by ASOA Diamond Strategic Business Partner:
In managing staff, having an accurate system to measure daily productivity will allow you to hold staff accountable with accurate data that is fairly enforced.
This episode of EyeTalks Radio is sponsored by ASOA Diamond Strategic Business Partner:
Dawn Marsillo of Allergan® talks with Janet Cox, Director of Billing and Coding at Vance Thompson about understanding the payer landscape for DURYSTA® (bimatoprost intracameral implant).
This episode of EyeTalks Radio is being presented by ASOA Platinum Strategic Business Partner:
Although providing new technologies—and sometimes older ones—can occasionally be an administrative nightmare, navigating the pathway to successful reimbursement by engaging with all available resources will arm your staff with the tools they need to ultimately benefit our most important and valued stakeholder—the patient.
The technician shortage is very real, and what has worked in the past to train technicians may not be appropriate for today’s new employees.
Although many practices have seen a full (or nearly full) recovery of patient volumes while adapting to the new and stringent social distancing norms necessitated by the emergence of COVID-19, the question remains: What more can be done to maximize our workflows and resources?
People drive success in any organization. An intentional strategy that puts people first by creating a patient-centered culture will ensure that your practice reaps the rewards.
While much has been written about shoplifting prevention, internal loss prevention is not a topic that gets as much attention, yet costs practices thousands of dollars each year.
This episode of EyeTalks Radio is sponsored by ASOA Diamond Strategic Business Partner:
A dilemma arises when a practice owner cannot (or does not want to) handle the demanding pace and lifestyle typical of a busy, full-time ophthalmologist and desires a less intense schedule and more personal life balance.
This episode of EyeTalks Radio is being sponsored by Alcon.
For a true friction-less experience, don’t compare your practice’s website to your competitors. Compare your site to Amazon or Google.
If you are in management long enough, you will make some big mistakes. Assuming they aren’t fatal to your career, how do you recover?
This episode of EyeTalks Radio is being sponsored by ASOA Diamond Strategic Business Partner:
Dawn Marsillo of Allergan® talks with Meg Gilson of Eye Surgeons about considerations for DURYSTA™ (bimatoprost intracameral implant) billing, coding, and reimbursement.
This episode of EyeTalks Radio is being sponsored by ASOA Platinum Strategic Business Partner:
ASCs must distinguish themselves from the competition by following the lead hospitals have gained regarding the treatment and consideration of RNs. Failing to do so may result in canceled cases and closed ORs.
This episode of EyeTalks Radio is sponsored by ASOA Platinum Strategic Business Partner:
Host Myra Cherchio talks with Jane Shuman about the importance of patient flow, and discusses topics such as looking at office space, identifying “hot spots” like redundancies in forms and systems, setting up office teams, and scheduling.
A customized profit and loss statement generates valuable, specific information that helps business owners and administrators make better management decisions. These tips will help turn your P&L into one of the most powerful management tools in running a successful practice. ASOAnalytics is an online benchmarking tool available to ASOA members. Visit asoanalytics.com for more information.
Here are five techniques to allow technicians to train themselves, from Brittany Royster, COT, of Carolina Ophthalmology Associates in Chapel Hill, NC.
Sondra Hoffman, Executive Director of Florida Eye Clinic, Business and Life Coach, Hoffman Consulting Group, talks with Karen Bachman, ASOA’s Immediate Past President, about avoiding burnout and creating personal and professional satisfaction.
The goal of the informed consent process is to enable the patient or patient representative to make an informed and educated decision to undergo the proposed procedure.
This episode of EyeTalks Radio is sponsored by ASOA Platinum Strategic Business Partner:
Randy Baldwin, Vice President of Specialty Client Marketing at CareCredit, explains how CareCredit’s business tools go beyond patient financing. Business reports, point-of-purchase materials, industry insights, and more are available through CareCredit.
For over 30 years, CareCredit, a part of Synchrony, has been a valuable financing option for treatments and procedures that typically are not covered by insurance, or for times when insurance doesn't cover the full amount. The CareCredit credit card offers everyday promotional financing options to help patients move forward with the vision services and products they need while fitting cost into their monthly budget.
CareCredit is an ASOA Platinum Strategic Business Partner.
This is a sponsored event and should not be seen as an explicit endorsement or product recommendation from ASOA or ASCRS.
What if you could increase surgical volumes with patients who were already diagnosed by another doctor, ready for surgery, and who came into your doors already excited about your practice and the great care they would receive—before you even met them?
This episode of EyeTalks Radio is sponsored by ASOA Platinum Strategic Business Partner:
Exploring ideas to enhance optical operations in an ophthalmology practice, such as discussing the different characteristics of opticals vs. medical practices, suggestions for key performance indicators and how to set sales prices, glasses capture rate, and more.
The “Feedback Is a Gift” mantra’s fresh perspective can take time and effort to develop, particularly for those who have historically avoided potential conflict. Not only did feedback need to be rebranded as a word; we also needed to rebuild trust, understanding, and credibility.
This episode of EyeTalks Radio is being sponsored by Care Credit.
We all want to provide our patients with the best possible outcomes. While this starts in assume a more active role, which translates to an increased sense of power. When you give the power back to the patient, it helps us all achieve the goal of 20/happy.
Members of the National Board for the Certification of Ophthalmic Executives (NBCOE), Carole Dumas and Ashlie Barefoot Malone, provide tips on how to become a Certified Ophthalmic Executive. This elite certification promotes excellence and professionalism in ophthalmic practice management.
The next breakthrough solution will not come from doing “business as usual.”
Imagine the impact you can make from injecting fresh thinking that energizes your patients, colleagues, and your overall organization. Take this opportunity to follow these steps to intrapreneurship and you can dramatically improve your organization—and your future.
A patient is the most important visitor on the business premises. Patients are doing us a favor by giving us the opportunity to serve them. If staff are trained in these areas, the overall patient experience will start to get a huge upswing in positivity.
Choosing the right mix of lenses to feature in your dispensary—and the best way to market them—presents an interesting challenge. Offering too many options to your patients will not benefit them or you.
We all have the ability to make a difficult journey just a little easier. After all, isn’t that why we are in this business?
Take a listen to Ellen Adams' 2019 APEX Award-winning Administrative Eyecare magazine article.
Despite varying opinions regarding personal technology in the workplace, one thing remains true: It is a force to be reckoned with and is here to stay.
Tips and strategies for coming to consensus and getting things done when differences of opinion arise.
Take a listen to the latest episode of ASOA EyeTalks Radio -- Q&A Interview: Operation Sight -- as we talk with ASOA Board members Hayley Boling, Debbie Davis, and Carrie Jacobs about their participation and experiences with the Operation Sight program.
Creating a harmonious working environment at your ophthalmic practice is certainly achievable, but what happens when you encounter a member of staff or a physician with whom you clash, or with whom everyone clashes?
In this episode, Hayley Boling of Boling Vision & INSIGHT Surgery Center interviews Craig Piso of Piso & Associates to discuss strategies that will help when issues with staff arise.
Having a formal recruitment strategy in place will give you a better chance of finding a suitable candidate who meets your needs.
Laura Baldwin, Principal and Senior Consultant of BSM Consulting, interviews Regina Boore, Senior VP and Executive Consultant of Progressive Surgical Solutions, a division of BSM Consulting, on setting and achieving quality measures for ASCs.
Pity the woodpecker. Its full-time job is banging its head against a tree just to get a single bug if it’s lucky, only to have to go to another tree and bang its head again to get another one. Many leaders and staff feel like the woodpecker when it comes to meetings—they often don’t produce much in the way of results and the process is painful. It doesn’t have to be that way. Here is some advice that might work to help make your meetings less painful and more productive.
Critical thinking is so important to our doctors and patients, in fact, we should foster a culture that encourages it to ensure the best medical care and results. This podcast discusses key ideas related to critical thinking and raises some questions that will prompt you to start incorporating it into your technician training.
A successive development strategy for your potential managers will require dedicated time, a logical assessment of resources, a realistic action plan, and patience. Under your leadership, a rational plan for the internal development of practice managers can relieve some of your burdens, retain valuable staff, and provide optimal value for the practice.
In the evolution of customer service, the right step might be a step backward in time. Even in our eyecare practices, the basic principles of customer service remain the same as the corner ice cream shop. Understand your product and service, be able to articulate each one, and identify and meet the needs of the customer with good-natured professionalism.
The CPT definitions and descriptions of the ophthalmic codes (92002– to 92014) are confusing, to say the least. The definitions of the codes are even different than the actual descriptions themselves.
Consultants and other experts on this subject like to say, “these codes are broken”. Very few Medicare Administrative Contractors (or, MACs) have published guidelines available for the eye codes. This podcast will provide some clarity to assist when documenting and billing these services.
An ASOA interview on priorities and time management with Katie Lawrence, MHA CMPE, Director of Ambulatory Optimization for Greenville Health System.
From an attorney’s viewpoint, new associate employment agreements are relatively simple, but don’t let their simplicity deceive you. The business and legal choices made in a new associate’s initial employment agreement are important to get right before they sign on the dotted line. Here’s a “Top 10 List” of mistakes to avoid.
While having the technical skills in your job is essential, it’s the soft skills that can take leaders to the next level in managing their teams. Learn or refresh your memory on the top 10 interpersonal skills that lead to more success as a manager.
When the administrator and managing partner work productively and cooperatively in tandem, it is a catalyst that ignites practice growth. This podcast provides practical tips for balancing operations and authority as a member of the administrator-managing dyad.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Office of Inspector General are more aggressive than ever about collecting any overpayments that may have been made to providers in error. Audits of Medicare dollars paid are on the rise, including OIG audits. Practices commonly assume that Medicare and other payers are always correct but they make mistakes too. Listen and learn 10 steps to streamline the appeals process to ensure you receive the dollars your practice is rightfully due.
Advice for practice managers and administrators when onboarding new employees or providers and bringing them into the practice culture.
Having a good compliance plan is becoming more essential, not only to meet legal and contractual requirements but also to help ensure efficient operations and financial security. For many managers in healthcare, compliance is still considered a headache, and for some, a source of real anxiety. Noncompliance poses the threat of fines, exclusion from healthcare plans (particularly Medicare), or lengthy audits and investigations that are costly and potentially damaging to reputations. Rather than expending negative energy on external regulations, practices should focus on the positive aspects of successful compliance.
In business, inquiry thinking is all about the power of asking questions in ways that OPEN UP rather than limit possibilities. In this podcast, based on an Administrative Eyecare magazine article written by Bonnie Navarre of Johnson & Johnson Vision, learn the kinds of questions that lead to possibility and which questions to avoid and hear an example of how inquiry thinking made a difference and even improved conversion rates in an ophthalmic practice.
Expert advice for ophthalmic practice administrators and their providers on assessing risk for an audit, including identification of some red flags that can trigger an audit by CMS and other payers. Includes discussion of specific eye codes and their appropriate use, as well as advice for mitigating your practice’s risk for an audit.
Building a star-studded team of talented, enthusiastic, patient-oriented, long-term employees is an admirable goal for all health care practices. However, accomplishing such a feat is challenging. While “perfect” employees are hard to find, administrators and human resources managers should never shy away from trying to load their team with all-star employees. This podcast is based on an Administrative Eyecare article written by Allan Walker, director of publications for BSM Consulting.
Expert advice for ophthalmic practice administrators and their providers on MACRA and MIPS in 2018, including the key changes in the 2018 Final Rule for the Merit-based Incentive Payment System, new details on the four MIPS categories, cataract episode-based measures and more to help your ophthalmology practice thrive in 2018.
Expert advice for practice managers and administrators on how to handle workplace conflict and employee complaints, including common mistakes managers make when conflicts arise and strategies for resolving conflicts when they occur.
When you’re the new manager of an ophthalmology practice, it’s critical to gain buy-in not only from staff, but also from the physician providers. Tips and advice for gaining support from the entire team are offered in this podcast, based on an article in Administrative Eyecare Magazine.
Expert advice for new administrators when they inherit long-term employees who either won’t or aren’t able to change to meet the needs and challenges of taking your practice from good to great.
Expert advice and practical tips for managers from attorneys at Smith Amundsen’s Labor and Employment Practice Group on avoiding the pitfalls of disciplining employees, what and when to document, and how to communicate disciplinary action with employees.
Host Joe Theine, Practice Administrator at Four Corners Eye, interviews Andrew Maller, MBA, COE and Maureen Waddle, MBA of BSM Consulting, two recognized benchmarking experts in the field of ophthalmology to discuss ASOAnalytics as a gamechanger for benchmarking for a true apples-to-apples comparison.
Host Joe Theine, Practice Administrator at Four Corners Eye, interviews Andrew Maller, MBA, COE and Maureen Waddle, MBA of BSM Consulting, two recognized benchmarking experts in the field of ophthalmology to discuss the top three benchmarks that can help administrators assess the health of their practice and offer tips for using benchmarks for sound business decisions.
Roxanna Martin, clinical coordinator at Akler Eye Center, interviews Dr. Tamim Quam, MD, an expert in productivity and time management in the area of ophthalmic practice to get advice on avoiding procrastination, prioritizing work, delegating responsibilities and more.
The complexities of managing an ophthalmic practice, or any business, are made more complex by the human factor, and the emotions that inherently all humans bring to any situation. Get advice for how to strike a balance between making decisions based purely on emotions or logic.
In this episode on the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators president Bill Koch, COE, CPC, COA, interviews Nancey McCann, director of government relations for the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery to get a better understanding of the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and learn how practices and physicians will be evaluated and scored in 2017 which will effect 2019 payments.
Using employee evaluations can be a valuable tool in any manager’s toolbox but just having a form for managers to fill out can be a disaster. Find out how to craft a performance evaluation system.
Learn what administrators in busy practices should consider when hiring staff and what should happen after the hire is made to ensure the new hire and existing staff are on the same page.
American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators President Elect Bill Koch, COE, CPC, COA, interviews Nancey McCann, director of government relations for the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery on the biggest change in Medicare payment in over 20 years. Find out what MACRA means specifically for ophthalmologists and learn what it takes to avoid a payment cut and possibly earn a bonus payment in 2019 based on 2017 reporting.