Editor's Note Ambulatory surgery centers in California face new regulations and oversight under a new law, which takes effect January 1, 2016. New regulatory requirements include peer-review evaluations every 2 years for physicians and surgeons working in ASCs and unannounced inspections of facilities.   SB 396 makes minor changes to…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission has removed the Life Safety (LS) chapter from the Office-Based Surgery Practices Manual, effective immediately. The revision limits office-based surgery practices to a business occupancy of three or fewer patients at the same time who are rendered incapable of self-preservation in an emergency or are…

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Editor's Note Incentivizing surgeons to standardize surgical supplies led to dramatic cost savings in this study. A shared-savings program that returned 50% of money saved on surgical supplies to the surgery division realized a total cost-savings of $893,865. A total of $446,932 was shared with 15 surgery divisions. Quality of…

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Editor's Note In this pilot study of 50 surgical patients from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, the majority preferred online postoperative visits to in-person visits. Online visits were accepted by patients and surgeons, took less time, and effectively identified patients who required further care.    

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Editor's Note Development of an anesthesia enhanced recovery pathway (ERP) at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, resulted in a 45% reduction in length of stay in colorectal surgery patients. In addition, patient satisfaction scores improved from the 37th percentile to the 97th percentile. The goals of the ERP were achieving superior…

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Editor's Note This is the first study to use a human factors and systems engineering approach to evaluate contributors to readmissions after complex surgical procedures. Previous studies on readmissions have neglected the patient perspective, the authors say. Factors identified by patients and clinician providers that may have contributed to readmissions…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has identified bronchoscopes as a subset of devices that pose a greater likelihood of microbial transmission and represent a high risk of infection if not adequately reprocessed. The FDA is proactively investigating these devices to determine if additional reprocessing steps should be taken.…

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Editor's Note On September 11, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a health advisory recommending that healthcare facilities arrange for a professional to assess their reprocessing procedures for maintaining, cleaning, disinfecting, and sterilizing reusable medical devices. The agencies recommend that facilities…

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Editor's Note As the Affordable Care Act continues to pass more costs to patients through higher deductibles and premiums, ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are positioning themselves as cost-effective and convenient alternatives to traditional hospitals, the September 17 Central Valley Business Journal reports. ASCs provide efficient, high-quality procedures, and discharge home…

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Editor's Note Weekend discharge after major surgical procedures is not associated with higher readmission rates, this study finds. Readmission rates were similar for those discharged on a weekend vs weekday after AAA repair (8.8% vs 9.3%) and pancreatectomy (17.5% vs 15.9%). Weekend discharge was associated with a lower 30-day readmission…

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