Anxiety over changes in healthcare delivery and payment systems has permeated hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). Administrators are concerned about how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and other initiatives will hit the organization’s bottom line. Increasingly, perioperative services leaders are being drawn into discussions in these areas. “The OR…
Depression affects 9% of adults in the US and 18% of hospital-employed nurses, including those who work in perioperative settings. Nurses with depression not only suffer themselves, but their illness can impact their productivity and quality of care as well as their coworkers’ work lives. Nurse managers need to be…
Until I heard Keith Siddel, PhDc, JD, MBA, CHC, speak at our OR Business Management Conference in February, I didn’t fully realize how much ICD-10 coding could disrupt billing and payment for services. Siddel, an attorney and healthcare finance expert based in Creede, Colorado, explained why providers should have been…
With a background that includes everything from a Level 1 trauma center to large academic centers to companies involved in joint ventures, acquiring physician practices, and contract negotiations, Marian McCann, MBA, BSN, RN, CNOR, has had a wealth of experience in working with physicians. She will share some of that…
Google is the best company in America to work for, according to Fortune Magazine. Thousands of smart, creative individuals want to work there, not only for perks like nap rooms and free food, but also because of Google’s reputation for supportive management, effective communication, and rewards for a job well…
The expanded volume of interventional cardiology in recent years has played a major role in the growing prevalence of hybrid ORs. As a result, many perioperative services leaders have had to develop systems for managing hybrid ORs along with traditional ORs. “Management of hybrid ORs is really a collision of…
Most perioperative leaders are concerned about turnover time. And rightly so—lengthy turnovers squander expensive OR minutes. The typical surgery department, however, gives less attention to case time. Many OR directors view case time as a lower priority that is largely out of their control. This is a mistake. Prolonged case…
Nobody wants to come to work some morning and find a team of inspectors waiting. There is nothing like a surprise exam to make one nervous. Yet inspections are necessary—and not necessarily evil. Ambulatory surgery center (ASC) inspections are required for Medicare certification by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid…
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will delay implementation of the new quality reporting measure ASC-11, Cataracts: Improvement in Patient’s Visual Function within 90 Days Following Cataract Surgery, until January 1, 2015. CMS intends to issue proposals regarding data collection for this measure in the upcoming 2015 proposed…