Leaders in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are seeing little to no growth in salary, even through most are experiencing higher surgical volumes, according to the OR Manager 2016 Salary/Career Survey. The average annual salary was $104,721, slightly more than the $102,051 in 2015, but the average total compensation was down…

As surgical volume increases, staffing challenges are trending slightly upward for OR leaders in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), with increases in open positions and turnover, according to the 2016 annual OR Manager Salary/Career Survey. More than half of respondents (56%) reported higher surgical volumes during the past 12 months, significantly…

Leaders of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) know a competent staff is essential for optimal patient outcomes and financial well-being, but competing pressures sometimes relegate competency assessment to completing a checklist to meet regulatory requirements. Unfortunately, this approach can result in missed opportunities. “Competency assessment helps promote safe care and quality…

How can leaders of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) ensure they have a competent staff? First, they must hire staff with the right skill sets, and then they should implement meaningful methods for ongoing assessment. Here are some strategies for meeting these goals.   Begin with the hiring process “When you…

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…

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.…

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.…

With several months of experience using an updated version of the International Classification of Diseases-10 (ICD-10) diagnosis coding system, most US healthcare providers, including ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), are finding their worst fears have yet to materialize.   ‘Lights would go out’ Although Medicare has not yet released data, insurance…

One of the last things ambulatory surgery center (ASC) staff want to do is transfer a patient to a hospital because it increases the risk of infection and patient discomfort, and it’s a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) quality measure (ASC-4). CMS and most states traditionally have not…

When it comes to buying medical-surgical supplies, quality, safety, and physician comfort are foremost—but that doesn’t mean price is no object. Even though ambulatory surgery center (ASC) staff often lack materials management expertise, they can achieve cost savings in several ways, especially if they brush up on terms used in…