Bio: E. Q. Skip Fahel began his career in health care after his separation from the Army in 1977, settling in Kansas City, MO. His first position was in nursing homes management, and then into medical management consulting. Skip began my career in ophthalmology by answering a help wanted ad from Eye Consultants, [Drs. Fred Hyde and John Hunkeler] in 1983. Dr. Hunkeler took me under his wing and made sure that I had every chance in the world to develop as an administrator. I accompanied him to all of his meetings, whether it was the big annual meetings of the AAO, ASCRS, and OOSS or the smaller training seminars that were held all over the country. He encouraged me to attend the meetings that were for the business side of medicine including MGMA and other special meetings. He would let me visit other practices in the country to learn how they were doing business and help to develop my early network of administrators. My first ASCRS meeting was at the Century Plaza Hotel in April of 1984. I remember there were very few administrators in attendance, and really no networking or classes. The year after this meeting until the meeting and the next meet in Boston, I continued to travel and meet other administrators. At the 1984 Boston meeting at the Marriott Copley Plaza, there were more administrators and we spent the majority of our time sitting at lounge by the piano taking business. Sharing what was working and not working in our practices “the practice pearls.” From this group of administers which included Lucy Santiago and Lindsey McDonald, the plan for a session for administrator was put in motion for the 1986 meeting. At this informal meeting, I made my first presentation “The Physician Administrator Relations.” The formal inclusion of the administrators session happened at the following year meeting. Since then, I have made presentations on: Budgeting, ASC Cost Accounting, Financial Assessment, Leadership, Management by Facts and Data, Total Quality Management Tools, Dealing with Completion, and many others. Over the 29 years that I have attended the ASOA/ASCRS meetings a major benefit has been the ability to network with my fellow administrators, other staff members, doctors, and company representatives.
At the first meetings and before the ASOA programs started, networking was in the halls, over breakfast, lunch, or dinner and sitting around the bars in the hotel. The two best bars at the time were the bar lounges at the Century Plaza Hotel and the piano bar at the Marriott Copley Place. What made these two locations so good was that location. Both were located so that you could see who was come in and going out to the hotel. They were a perfect meeting place. Late, the ASOA established the “Networking Room.” 1984 MGMA in Washington, D.C. where a speaker from the Medicare Administration made the following statement: “Medicine is no longer the practice of medicine, but is the practice of business. If you cannot run the practice as a business, you not be able to practice medicine.” This statement set the tone of how I managed a medical practice. Get a strong foundation of the basics of finance and accounting, personnel management, marketing, Medicare rules and regulations, and operations, and then build on these basics. Build on the leadership skills developed during my military service. The ASOA courses and networking gave me the opportunity to grow. During my years in ophthalmology, I have worked with practices in Kansas City, Mo, Houston, TX, Baltimore,, MD, San Antonio TX, Sarasota, FL, Port Charlotte, FL, and final back to Houston where I retired in 2010 after 29 years in Ophthalmology. However, continued to attend the annual meeting until 2016. Since retirement, I have enjoyed visiting the active Army units at Fort Drum, NY, playing golf, and enjoying the grand kids.
