Total joint procedures are gradually moving to ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) as technology, medical expertise, and cost pressures combine to make the ASC an increasingly attractive alternative to an acute care hospital. The key to success for these and other complex procedures, experts say, is a combination of careful planning,…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced March 3 that they are collaborating on a project designed to adapt, enhance, and disseminate CDC guidelines related to infection prevention in ambulatory healthcare settings. The goal of the initiative, called “ADOPT (Adaptation and Dissemination Outpatient…

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Editor's Note Implementation of a Perioperative Surgical Home (PSH) program for patients undergoing ambulatory laparoscopic cholecystectomy in a Kaiser Permanente practice model was associated with significantly reduced length of stay and unplanned hospital admission in this study. The analysis included 878 patients in the preimplementation period and 1,082 in the…

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Aging and active Americans are refusing to let back problems slow them down—the number of these patients is increasing, and they prefer the less invasive outpatient methods offered in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). So do their physicians. As a result, ASCs seeking to adopt new procedures are looking more closely…

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Editor's Note Surgical site infections (SSIs), especially serious infections resulting in hospitalization or surgical treatment, were associated with significantly increased health care costs after four common ambulatory surgical procedures, this study finds. The incidence of serious SSIs was 0.8% after 21,062 anterior cruciate ligament reconstructions, 0.5% after 57,750 cholecystectomies, 0.6%…

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Editor's Note New Massachusetts (Mass) state regulations approved January 11 allow freestanding ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) to apply for permission to expand or offer new lines of procedures without being affiliated with an acute care hospital, the January 19 Enterprise News reports. The new regulations lift a 20-year moratorium on…

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An ambulatory surgery center (ASC) looking to expand its market may want to add new procedures, but only after careful consideration of resource investment versus ultimate benefit. In the first of a three-part series, OR Manager explores surgical specialties that appear to show promise for the outpatient setting. One of…

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Editor's Note In this study of inpatient and outpatient open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) for ankle fractures, researchers found a reduced risk of 30-day medical morbidities with outpatient ORIF and no differences in surgical morbidity, reoperations, and readmissions between the two groups. The findings demonstrate that performing ORIF surgery…

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Editor's Note Introduction of the Perioperative Surgical Home (PSH) model for patients having ambulatory laparoscopic cholecystectomy at a Kaiser Permanente facility was associated with decreased length of stay and unplanned hospital admissions in this study. A total of 878 patients were included in the preimplementation period, and 1,082 in the…

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A growing number of new devices, procedures, and drugs are becoming available to alleviate pain, especially the chronic type that lingers after incurring an injury or undergoing surgery. Pain management has become a medical specialty, and most pain relief procedures are appropriate for ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). Some ASCs make…

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