One of Mr. Mulhern's favorite aspects of his job as an administrator is the team of people he works with. "Our organization is built on the talent of our staff," he says. "They are dedicated to providing excellent care while treating each patient as if they were family. It is always a pleasure to hear from a patient that we have 'exceeded their expectations.'"
Mr. Mulhern adds, "Not having a clinical background, I rely heavily on the input of our nurse manager and nurse supervisor. They do a great job and our collaborative approach to managing the ASC has worked very well."
Limestone and Mr. Mulhern have worked hard to recruit new physicians to the center, especially as some of the surgeons who opened the center start to retire. "In 2003, our ASC was 15 years-old, and we recognized that the average age of our surgeons was increasing. We implemented a business plan to recruit young surgeons to become partners," he says. "The effort has been a real success. It has infused fresh ideas and new procedures into our center, and we have decreased the average age to 49 years-old. Without this active recruitment, the average age of a partner would be 57 years-old today."
Mr. Mulhern enjoys working with an active governing board. "It is truly a collaborative effort among staff, surgeons and administration to implement new ideas. Also, being located in a large multispecialty medical office building — many of the surgeon partners and the ASC are under the same roof — increases the camaraderie at our center," he says.
Mr. Mulhern says being an administrator provides him with daily challenges that keep the job interesting. "It's never boring managing the various pieces of the organizational puzzle. On any given day, I'm challenged with a variety of different issues that are all interrelated."
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