ASCRS News: Annual Meeting Preview
July 2021

by Liz Hillman
Editorial Co-Director

The ASOA Annual Meeting is “all about the networking,” according to ASOA Executive Director Laureen Rowland. Getting attendees in the same room together in person is a main attraction after so many months apart. 

“Members have stayed strong during the last year, but they can’t wait to see each other again and share solutions to problems they’ve encountered over the past year,” she said. 

While pandemic-related effects and lessons learned will be a thread throughout much of the content of the ASOA Annual Meeting, courses continue to cover the important things that all members of a practice need to know. 

“There is a lot to share from what practices have learned amid the COVID-19 pandemic, while at the same time people are moving on. It’s important that we continue to address matters outside of COVID-19,” Ms. Rowland said. 

For MDs interested in practice management courses, the ASOA Annual Meeting features the MD Business Essentials track, which identifies content most relevant for physicians (registrants of the ASCRS Annual Meeting have access to ASOA programming). Some of these courses include “Financial Forecasting: Using Numbers to Be a Strategic Leader,” “Preserving and Expanding Your Patient Volume,” “Private Equity in Ophthalmology: Lessons Learned from the Trenches and Where Does It All Go from Here,” “Partners in Leadership: Physician Owner and Administrator Relationships,” “If You’ve Seen One Audit You’ve Seen Them All … Not Exactly,” “Keeping You Up at Night: Key Compliance Risks Drawing Government and Whistleblower Scrutiny,” “Increasing Revenue with Ocular Surface Disease Management,” and more.

ASOA will continue to have two general sessions. Its Opening General Session on Saturday will feature Karyn Buxman, RN, MS, CSP, CPAE, with her keynote speech “Lead with Levity.” Ms. Buxman will discuss how humor “strengthens resilience, enhances communications, and increases engagement.” At the general session on Monday, Joe Mull, CSP, will give the keynote speech, “No More Team Drama: Ending Gossip, Cliques, & Other Crap that Damage Workplace Teams.” Mr. Mull, a return keynote speaker to the ASOA meeting, will highlight why this drama is bad for business and give practical ways to create a collaborative team.

ASOA continues to call out certain courses that are endorsed for its ABC audience (Administrator Beginners Circle, those within their first 4 years of ophthalmic practice management), but it is also introducing a new label for courses of specific interest to mid-level managers. This new track coincides with a new monthly, nine-module ASOA program, “Growing as a Mid-Level Manager.”

With networking being a hallmark of the ASOA Annual Meeting, Ms. Rowland said the popular roundtables are being expanded to 90 minutes, and a second set is being added. Roundtables will take place from 10:30 a.m.–12:00 p.m. on Saturday and 10:00–11:30 a.m. on Monday. The roundtables are eligible for Certified Ophthalmic Executive (COE) credits. 

On Friday, the Pre-Conference Deep Dives include a full-day Certified Ophthalmic Executive review session (Part 1) and a half-day “Cultivating Your Best Team” workshop. This latter workshop developed by the ASOA Practice Transformation Task Force will focus on helping attendees shift their practice from pandemic survival mode to one that ensures the practice is positioned for future success. 

On the whole, Ms. Rowland said ASOA programming is diverse with topics covering leadership and strategic management, business operations, reimbursement, health information technology, and other strategies for successful practice management. 

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Contact 

Rowland: Laureen@asoa.org