Electronic commerce, slow to come to hospitals, has been even slower to reach ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). Part of the reason is that large, distributor-hosted ordering systems were impractical for small clients such as ASCs. Even most Internet-based systems, now in common use, were designed for high-volume transactions. That is…

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There are 3 ways to handle used disposable medical-surgical devices: throw them out after a single use (as the manufacturer recommends); reprocess them according to strict Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines; or hire a specialty company to collect, reprocess, and return them. The first option is expensive, compounding the…

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Like their hospital and physician practice counterparts, ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are feeling a financial pinch. Or are they? So far, the effects of the recession have manifested in different ways for ASCs, and hard data on nationwide trends are hard to find. "It's too early to tell," Cathy Head,…

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Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are about to find themselves more deeply connected with the communities they serve than ever before. Under the latest Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rule setting out conditions for coverage, ASCs must join their hospital colleagues in publishing disaster preparedness plans. The Medicare rule,…

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Ambulatory surgery centers (ASC) are gearing up to comply with the newly revised Medicare Conditions for Coverage (CfCs). The revised conditions, issued Oct 30, 2008, are effective May 18, 2009. ASCs accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Healthcare (AAAHC) are also preparing to meet its 2009 standards, which have…

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First part of a 2-part series. Is your ambulatory surgery center (ASC) having claims denied? Are you missing out on revenue or opening yourself to compliance risks because of coding problems? Top ASC coding and billing problems Unbundling Separate procedures Upcoding and undercoding Diagnosis coding issues Proper modifier usage Claim…

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When a surgical procedure includes a biopsy, the tissue specimen goes to a laboratory for analysis, and the result comes back to the physician. That much is clear, wherever the surgery took place. What happens next, however, can be a mystery in the context of an ambulatory surgery center (ASC).…

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Here comes the 10th patient of the day, out of the operating room and into the postanesthesia care unit (PACU). Quick: Does she have any allergies? What medications has she received? And is that her daughter in the waiting room? Even in the smaller setting of an ambulatory surgery center…

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Health care is not shy about adopting new technology when it comes to the latest generation of computed tomography, linear accelerators for cancer treat-ment, or other scientific innovations. Yet in their business functions, facilities have been reluctant to invest in information technology such as electronic medical records (EMR) and purchasing…

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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published the long-awaited final revision of the ambulatory surgery center (ASC) conditions for coverage (CfCs) on Oct 30, 2008. The CfCs spell out the rules for ASCs participating in Medicare. They were issued as part of a larger rule that includes updates…

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