As part of the 25th annual OR Manager Salary/Career Survey, nearly one-fourth of respondents from ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) reported an increase in the turnover rate for RNs in the past 12 months, and many said they have at least one open position. In the comments section of the survey,…

Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are moving forward with quality reporting, adding a series of new measures this year while continuing to build a national database of performance levels on earlier measures. Now that they have experience with reporting safe surgery checklist use (ASC 6) and volume of selected procedures (ASC…

Screening heavier patients for ambulatory surgery just became a little easier, thanks to a new brochure from the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) Institute for Quality Improvement, Skokie, Illinois. Titled “Ambulatory surgery and obesity in adults: Preventing complications,” the two-page toolkit draws on some 40 research articles outlining…

Patients come first. That is the brief, yet insightful, first principle for the ambulatory surgery industry: Give patients a safe, cost-effective, convenient, and attractive place to have their elective surgery, and profits and career satisfaction will follow. Well, perhaps, but it is all too easy to become involved in regulations,…

Like all healthcare facilities, ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) generate medical waste. Some of that waste is well known to be hazardous, such as blood, tissue, or used needles and syringes. Another type of waste is leftover medication, which is subject to its own regulations and disposal practices. Compliance is a…

Fremont Surgery Center stands in America’s heartland, about 30 miles northwest of Omaha, Nebraska. It faces economic conditions typical of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) across the country: stable revenue but minimal growth prospects. Last year, however, Fremont made a strategic move that placed it in the industry’s vanguard. Fremont was…

The decision to add a new procedure in an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) is a matter of weighing risks and opportunities. A long list of variables must be analyzed and compared. Is the prospect of higher profit worth the investment that will be required in staff and equipment? Is our…

Delivering quality healthcare doesn’t end when a patient leaves the postanesthesia care unit. It continues until the final installment of the bill is paid. It continues even when the payment is overdue, missing, or refused. To stay in business, an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) must collect the fees it has…

Most ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) have some form of computer-based recordkeeping, such as scheduling and billing systems. So far, however, few have made the leap to electronic medical records (EMRs). With an EMR, clinicians enter data at the point of care, and that information is accessible to other clinical and…

Peak One Surgery Center in Frisco, Colorado, had a lucrative day this past October, when surgeons performed 14 procedures on local residents in the following specialties: orthopedics, general surgery, gynecology, pain management, and gastroenterology. Their pay? A mountain of gratitude.   Helping at home Frisco, population 2,683, is located in…