The impact of health care reform on ambulatory surgery centers (ASC)—like that on health care in general—is still uncertain. But plenty of other factors are at work that are likely to play a role in shaping the industry’s future. While the dramatic growth of the 1990s has largely abated, a…
A new benchmarking tool from the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) will help sterile processing departments measure their performance with others across the country. Using the online tool, available by subscription, managers can fill out a survey of more than 130 benchmarking measures on topics such as…
Getting patients through the surgical process smoothly is a continual quest. In a 6-month project, 29 hospitals in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio, with coordination from the Indianapolis-based regional office of VHA Inc, worked on improving processes before, during, and after surgery. The group benchmarked on 11 indicators, showing small…