FEATURE Hire CASC-Certified People
The credential is a seal of quality that demonstrates commitment to the ASC community, employers say BY SAHELY MUKERJI
D
ifferent people take the Certi- fied Administrator Surgery Cen-
ter (CASC) examination for different reasons. ASC employers, however, say that to them the credential stands for one thing: validation that the creden- tial-holder has mastered the skills that an ASC administrator needs. “When I see a CASC-certified candi-
date, I know that they have a strong over- all knowledge of the five key areas that ASC administrators must have,” says Barbara P. Draves, CASC, administra- tor of The Surgery Center of Southwest General in Middleburg Heights, Ohio. The five areas are delivery of patient care, quality management, human resources, financial, and regulatory and legal issues.
“Those are all important areas that an administrator works with daily in his or her position,” Draves says. “To me, it shows that the person I may be hiring is well-rounded and, more importantly,
The CASC exam is experience-based. This is expertise that is partly acquired from book learning—from ASCA meetings and networking—and partly from experience.”
— Martha R. Colen, RN, CASC Virginia Beach Ambulatory Surgery Center
that they care about the title ‘adminis- trator’ because they have taken the extra step to take the CASC exam.” The way CASC organizes the areas
of expertise makes you cognitive of the fact that all areas are interdependent, says Martha R. Colen, RN, CASC, administrator of Virginia Beach Ambu-
16 ASC FOCUS JUNE/JULY 2018 |
www.ascfocus.org
latory Surgery Center in Virginia Beach, Virginia. “ASCs are a microcosm of a large health care system. Unlike hos- pitals that have specific disciplines and individuals devoted to each of those dis- ciplines, an ASC administrator must do all five,” she says. “You have to be flexi- ble and multitalented. You have to make good judgment calls that are going to affect clinical decisions. For example, if I am the administrator of an ASC I don’t have a CFO to make my financial decisions, I have to make those myself.” The CASC exam is a difficult exam, Colen says. “It’s not something you can study for and it is not something you can take a class on,” she says. “It is experience-based. This is expertise that is partly acquired from book learning— from ASCA meetings and network- ing—and partly from experience.” You cannot pass the exam with just
book knowledge, agrees Andrew Weiss, CASC, administrator of Jefferson Sur- gery Center—Cherry Hill, Cherry Hill, New Jersey. “You have to have real-life experience to pass. Some of the ques- tions are complex and situational,” he says. “For example, one of the areas that you are tested on is human resources (HR), and a lot of the HR issues that come up are not black-and- white. You have to determine what the best answer would be.” ‘How to assess the needs for employee professional development’ could be an HR ques- tion, he says. “Unless you have actually done such an assessment, you won’t be able to provide the answer.” While HR, patient care and quality management are geared toward experience, other areas, like accounting and compliance, are geared toward book knowledge. “There’s a good mix-up,” he says. The CASC credential also shows that you are current on your education, especially, on the regulatory and clini- cal sides, Weiss says. “I got my CASC in 2005 and it is a three-year cycle, so the only way I can keep my credential is through continuing education,” he says. “I have done due diligence for ASC acquisitions and have found ASCs fro-
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