American Society of Anesthesiologists
Use-case
Cookie Consent
Industry
Healthcare / Professional Association
Team Size
100 - 500
Location
United States
In this article
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Schedule a demoThe American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) serves 60K+ privacy-conscious healthcare professionals who expect a transparent, flexible digital experience. To deliver it, they chose Osano.
- State-by-State Compliance Without the Legal Burden: Osano's automatically up-to-date state-specific privacy rules eliminated the need for ASA's legal team to monitor a constantly shifting regulatory landscape across all 50 states.
- Up and Running Within Two Weeks: A single line of code and a clean admin interface meant ASA went live quickly with minimal ongoing maintenance ever since.
- Member-First Flexibility: ASA members can now choose exactly how they want to interact with the digital platforms, with granular cookie preferences tailored to their individual comfort level.
- Compliance Confidence, Built in: By adhering to state-specific settings, the ASA gained legal protection through Osano's compliance guarantee, removing a significant source of risk for the organization.
The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) is the professional home for more than 60,000 members—the majority of whom are practicing anesthesiologists and anesthesiologists in-training. The ASA's digital presence is a critical resource: members come to the site to stay informed, review standards and guidelines, and access the education they need for lifelong learning and to maintain their certification.
For Gonzo Schexnayder, the ASA's Product Management Executive, the mission is clear: "Our goal is to help our members get the information they need, as quickly as possible, so they can help their patients." That means every element of the digital experience, including how member data is collected and protected, must reflect the same standard of care that ASA's members bring to their patients.
The Challenge
A High Bar in a Privacy-Conscious Profession
The ASA's members don't just work in organizations that take privacy seriously—they work in environments governed by HIPAA. They understand the consequences of data mishandling more viscerally than most. That context shapes how ASA thinks about its own privacy obligations across its digital properties.
Before implementing Osano, the ASA had already established a thoughtful approach to privacy—maintaining GDPR acknowledgements on login and registration forms, regularly reviewing its privacy standards and terms of use, and continuously evaluating ways to strengthen member trust and transparency. As privacy expectations and regulations evolved, the ASA identified an opportunity to build on that foundation with more sophisticated consent management capabilities.
Cookie consent presented an area for enhancement. The ASA wanted greater visibility into different categories of cookies, more granular preference controls for members, and the flexibility to tailor consent experiences to an increasingly complex landscape of state-level privacy regulations.
"We were looking for ways to take our privacy program to the next level," Schexnayder acknowledged. "Our existing processes reflected our commitment to protecting member data and being transparent about our practices. Osano’s cookie consent solution gave us additional tools to provide members with more choice and control, while helping us scale our approach as privacy expectations continue to evolve."
As privacy regulations expanded across the United States, the value of a more robust consent management solution became increasingly clear. The ASA's data governance team was already monitoring legislative developments, and as new state-specific requirements emerged alongside frameworks such as the GDPR and CCPA, the organization recognized the benefits of a scalable solution that could adapt to a rapidly changing regulatory environment.
"Our team was already monitoring privacy developments, but the vendor evaluation process gave us a deeper appreciation for how diverse state requirements were becoming," said Schexnayder. "It reinforced the importance of having tools that could adapt as the regulatory landscape continued to evolve."
Why Osano
Like Having a Dedicated Privacy Expert Join Your Team
A small team of ASA staff evaluated multiple vendors before selecting Osano. The evaluation framework was shaped by the ASA’s product-led culture. That meant they were not looking for a tool that just checked compliance boxes on paper. They were looking for something that delivered a genuinely good member and staff experience—and that wouldn't require the ASA's legal team to become privacy law experts to operate it.
Several factors made Osano stand out:
- State-by-State Compliance Without the Legal Burden: A defining differentiator was Osano’s ability to serve different privacy statements based on a member's state of residence automatically and without manual updates. "Instead of one general rule across the board for privacy, we know that Osano can give us state-specific and country-specific privacy rules that help ASA tailor its consent practices," said Schexnayder.
- Legal protection built in: Osano's compliance guarantee—protection from liability as long as default state-specific settings were used—addressed a real risk for an organization without a large legal team dedicated to privacy. " Osano's compliance assurance program provided additional confidence that ASA's consent management practices aligned with evolving state-specific requirements," said Schexnayder.
- A UI built for non-lawyers: The user experience of setting up and managing the platform mattered to the ASA. "The user experience of setting things up through the admin seemed simple and efficient," said Schexnayder. That simplicity wasn't incidental—it was the difference between a tool that would actually get used and one that would gather dust.
- Ongoing regulatory monitoring, handled for them: Perhaps most importantly, Osano removed the burden of keeping up with an ever-changing regulatory landscape from the ASA's plate entirely. "The last thing we wanted was to pick a tool that would require our legal team to do a scan of all 50 states every couple of months. We love the idea that Osano is an expert in the space and they're doing that for us. So, we don't have to think about it," said Schexnayder
Implementation: Fast, Simple, and Handled Well
If a privacy solution is difficult to implement, then it doesn't matter what it's capable of. The ASA wanted a privacy solution that could support their compliance straight away, and they found that in Osano. "The installation was really easy,” said Schexnayder. “It's a single line of code and our implementation rep walked us through configuration." From there, the team worked through bucketing and categorizing the cookies the platform identified.
The hands-on support from Osano's implementation team made the process quick and painless. "Our team had all the help that they needed, and we got all our questions answered," said Schexnayder. "It was a pretty simple experience."
The ASA deployed the code, classified a small batch of additional flagged cookies in the days immediately following launch, and were up and running within two weeks. Since then, the platform has required minimal ongoing attention.
The Results
Compliance Elevated. Members Served. Team Unburdened.
The impact of switching to Osano has been felt across the ASA's privacy program—not through dramatic interventions, but through the steady, quiet confidence that comes from knowing a critical piece of your compliance infrastructure is working.
Members have more control: Since installing Osano cookie consent tools, ASA members can now choose the types of cookies they want: those necessary for site functionality and optionally, those tied to advertising or analytics. "We wanted to give our members the option to pick and choose how they wanted to interact with our digital content, and Osano allowed us to do that," said Schexnayder.
The legal team spends less time monitoring privacy regulations: Osano's compliance guarantee and automated state-specific updates mean the ASA's legal team doesn't have to monitor the regulatory landscape independently. Their legal team already had a full plate between managing member privacy, product compliance, and data governance. They can now focus on strategic work rather than regulatory surveillance.
Day-to-day management is minimal: "There's really not a lot to think about," said Schexnayder. "We get an email that lets us know if we have new configurations at launch. Mostly we don't because we control everything through Google Tag Manager." The tool operates in the background, doing its job without demanding attention.
No fuss, no muss: Since launch, Schexnayder is not aware of any member complaints or support contacts related to cookie consent. That silence speaks volumes. "Our members don't call us when they can accomplish their goals on the website—they call us when they can't, when something's broken. And my team, which manages member experience issues, has not heard of one about cookie consent. So that tells us that it's working and it's doing what it's supposed to do."
A higher standard of compliance without the complexity: Since implementing Osano, Schexnayder and the ASA team have felt the confidence that comes from knowing their compliance is in good hands. "The fact that we enhanced our privacy program while keeping the experience simple for members is a big win for us," said Schexnayder. Without the burden of managing a complex solution, the ASA has been able to focus on serving their members; not endless configuration work, support calls, or legal research.
The ASA’s Advice for Healthcare Organizations Worried About Privacy
For organizations in healthcare and adjacent industries evaluating consent management solutions, Schexnayder has a clear message:
"Understand the variability of privacy and compliance requirements by state. Organizations should evaluate whether a one-size-fits-all consent approach adequately reflects the growing variation in state privacy requirements. Having a single cookie consent form with a general statement may not be as protective as Osano’s approach to tailoring compliance specific to where users live."
Many organizations—particularly those focused on HIPAA compliance—may not realize how many additional state-level requirements now exist beyond the GDPR and California's laws. The compliance landscape has grown far more complex, and the expectation that a single blanket policy will provide adequate protection is increasingly out of step with regulatory reality.
For a healthcare association whose members hold privacy as a professional and ethical value, the ASA knew that having a consent platform sophisticated enough to match those standards wasn’t just a nice-to-have. It was the only acceptable option.
Ready to give your members or customers the privacy experience they deserve? Book a demo with Osano today