Healthcare facilities are places of healing. Sometimes they also can be places of danger and death—just like the rest of the world. When an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) became the site of a fatal stabbing 3 years ago, outpatient surgery leapt into the public eye, and not in a good…

Read More

Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on July 14 published the 2017 Medicare Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Payment System policy changes, quality provisions, and payment rates proposed rule.  Among the proposals:  an increase in OPPS payment rates by 1.55%--a combination…

Read More

Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on June 30 published a correction to its recently updated fire safety requirements for hospitals. The correction says that hospital outpatient surgical departments must meet Life Safety Code provisions "applicable to Ambulatory Health Care Occupancies, regardless of the number of…

Read More

Editor's Note An analysis of US commercial health insurance claims found ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) reduce the cost of outpatient surgery by more than $38 billion per year compared to hospital outpatient departments, the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association said in a June 14 report. The study, which included more than…

Read More

Editor's Note Physicians Endoscopy, an ambulatory surgery center management company based in Jamison, Pennsylvania, is one of 12 outpatient-focused professional organizations and 10 ambulatory health care systems selected by the Joint Commission and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to participate in an infection prevention initiative. The initiative, called…

Read More

Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on April 29 approved the San Francisco-based Institute for Medical Quality (IMQ) as a national accrediting organization for Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs) that participate in the Medicare or Medicaid programs (known as deemed status), the May ASC Focus reports. IMQ…

Read More

Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on May 4 released comprehensive ambulatory surgery center (ASC) quality data reports compiled through its Ambulatory Surgery Center Quality Reporting (ASCQR) program. Among the data reported are: Quality data code-based measures, such as wrong site, side, patient, procedure, implant Safe…

Read More

Editor's Note Hand and arm surgical procedures can be completed safely in the outpatient setting at a freestanding ambulatory surgery center (ASC), this study finds. In this retrospective review of nearly 29,000 cases performed at a freestanding ASC over an 11-year period, there were 58 adverse events, for an overall…

Read More

The rare but very serious condition of malignant hyperthermia (MH) remains a risk at all surgical facilities, including ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs). MH occurs in about one in 50,000 adults under anesthesia, and one in about 12,000 children, which translates to one or two deaths annually in the United States.…

Read More

Each year, 3 million Americans have cataracts removed, according to the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS). Between the aging population and the increasing number of cataract procedures being performed, it’s not surprising that ophthalmology has led the way in specialties that are moving to the outpatient setting.…

Read More