Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced October 16 that several elements of performance for the Office-Based Surgery Accreditation program have been revised, effective January 1, 2020. The revisions, which are in the Environment of Care chapter, were made to align with 2012 Life Safety Code requirements and updated National Fire…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on October 9 announced proposed changes to how it enforces the Physician Self-Referral Law (ie, Stark Law), which penalizes physicians and other healthcare providers for referring patients to outside services they could stand to benefit from financially. The proposed rule…

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Salaries for ambulatory surgery center (ASC) leaders are down slightly, according to the OR Manager 2019 Salary/Career Survey, with slightly more than half of respondents (52%) earning $100,000 or more—a decline from 60% in 2018, 54% in 2017, and 53% in 2016. That dip may be contributing to corresponding lower…

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About 2 years ago I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. As I researched the treatment alternatives, I became very concerned about the complications associated with traditional surgical prostatectomy or radiation. Then I learned that I might be eligible for an outpatient procedure: high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). Although HIFU is relatively…

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Healthcare providers have seen a steady stream of inpatient-only procedures migrate to ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) over the past few years. Medicare is reimbursing an increasing number of procedures performed in the outpatient setting, many of them cardiovascular in nature. This issue of ASC Manager explores the development of a…

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Staffing remains a significant challenge for many leaders of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), according to the 2019 annual OR Manager Salary/Career Survey. Nearly a third (32%) of respondents reported more open RN positions, significantly higher than the 26% in 2018; over the past 5 years, only 2016 had a higher…

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Healthcare workers are at risk for bloodborne pathogen exposures in areas ranging from the clinic to the OR—both inpatient and outpatient settings. Such exposures not only cause anxiety, they cost an estimated $3,000 to $5,000 per exposure for things such as baseline and follow-up laboratory testing, treatment of exposed personnel,…

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Editor's Note Opioid prescriptions for patients having common outpatient surgical procedures at a large university hospital in Florida were substantially reduced within 6 months after implementation of state legislation limiting the duration of opioid prescriptions, this study finds. Of 1,467 surgical patients included in the study: The proportion receiving opioid…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced August 7 that the applicability of its Ambulatory Health Care Accreditation standards for telehealth organizations, which provide remote services, deploy in-person staff, and/or have equipment used between patients, is being evaluated. In the meantime, areas of noncompliance related to infection control, equipment and utility…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on July 29 issued the 2020 proposed payment rule for ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs), which would increase Medicare hospital outpatient prospective payment system rates by 2.7%. CMS is also proposing to add eight codes to…

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