ASCA 2020 Creates Online Buzz

Digital Debut

ASCA 2020 Creates Online Buzz

Don’t miss today’s sessions and keynote address

BY SAHELY MUKERJI | JULY 2020

ASCA’s annual conference made its virtual debut yesterday with the first day of the ASCA 2020 Virtual Conference & Expo. Attendees can access nearly 50 educational sessions, two keynote addresses, 17 affiliate presentations and five focus groups and interact with the sponsors and exhibitors at the conference. Registration is required to access the breakout sessions and earn continuing education (CE) credits.

For more than two decades, ASCA’s annual conference has remained the ASC industry’s most highly regarded and well attended event. Physicians, administrators, nurses, managers and owners of ASCs from across the country and throughout the world attend this conference. This year’s virtual conference is no different.

ASCA Board President Michael Patterson, RN, CASC, president and chief executive officer of Mississippi Valley Health in Davenport, Iowa, kicked off this year’s conference with welcoming remarks and an announcement of the winners of ASCA’s 2020 Nap Gary Legacy Award for Lifetime Achievement in the ASC Community. In the afternoon, attendees listened to Elizabeth Smart during her keynote address, as she shared her story of perseverance in the face of adversity and discussed what it takes to overcome trauma, find the strength to move on and reclaim your life. Throughout the rest of the day, experts within the ASC community presented multiple breakout sessions.

Today’s agenda includes more breakout sessions and keynote speaker Amelia Rose Earhart, who flew 28,000 miles around the world in a single-engine aircraft to become a symbol of determination, courage and empowerment.

Conference participants may earn up to 26 CE credits by attending the educational sessions. The deadline to request CE credits is October 31, 2020. To receive credit for a session, log in to the virtual conference platform and go to that session's page. Underneath the video player, you will see a "Continuing Education" section on the left side of the screen. Select the "Complete Evaluations & Obtain CE" button to log in to the Continuing Education Portal and complete your session evaluation.

The recordings of all ASCA 2020 sessions will be available to the attendees starting tomorrow, July 11, until October 31.

In addition to the educational sessions, attendees can browse the full list of exhibiting companies or sort and filter by the specific products or service categories they need most. These virtual tools also provide access to informative white papers, demonstration videos and a host of curated products and services offered by sponsors and exhibitors.

Attendees can connect directly to their vendors of choice through online chats or virtual one-on-one meetings and ask specific questions or discuss how each product could meet the needs and goals of their individual facility.

When an attendee visits virtual profiles of more than 25 exhibiting companies, they automatically become eligible to win cash prizes.

Those planning to take their Certified Administrator Surgery Center (CASC) exam can attend the Virtual CASC Review post-conference workshop on July 27-28. This workshop will be conducted for four hours each day. This advanced two-day session will provide an in-depth review of the key topics in the CASC exam’s five content areas:

  • regulatory and legal issues
  • finance
  • delivery of patient care
  • quality management
  • human resources

The content areas of human resources, delivery of patient care and regulatory and legal issues will be covered on day one; the content areas of finance and quality management will be covered on day two. Each content area will be covered by expert faculty with extensive experience in ASC management. Actual test questions will not be provided.

Have a productive and fun conference and see you next year.