Editor’s Note At the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) annual meeting, experts urged cardiac surgeons to become more engaged in tricuspid valve treatment before transcatheter options gain too much traction according to a January 26 report in MedPage Today. With new transcatheter devices gaining FDA approval and the Centers for…

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Editor's Note For the first time in over a decade, the OR Business Management Conference will feature a dedicated track tailored exclusively to ambulatory surgery center (ASC) leaders. This highly anticipated event, scheduled for February 10-12, 2025, at the Saddlebrook Resort in Tampa, Florida, is designed to address the unique…

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Editor's Note The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) has renewed its Medicare Deemed Status accreditation from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a December 16 press release from AAAHC reports. This renewal reflects AAAHC’s adherence to rigorous federal standards and its commitment to continuous improvement since…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its 2025 Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality Reporting (ASCQR) Program data, showing strong participation among Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASCs), ASC Focus December 20 reports. Of the 6,012 facilities included in the list, 5,714 will receive the full Annual Payment Update…

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Takeaways • Requirements for improvement and condition level deficiency findings have been trending up in recent The Joint Commission surveys. • The scoring trends and OR hot spots focus on infection control, medication management, national patient safety goals, post-surgical electronic health record tracers, and transplant (tissue) safety. • Federal regulations,…

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Perioperative leaders are entering a time of uncertainty after 2024 proved to be transformative for inpatient and outpatient surgical care. Last year saw important updates from The Joint Commission and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that emphasized improvements alongside ongoing challenges in safety, workforce shortages, reimbursement, and…

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Editor's Note We’ve raised the bar—for the first time in 13 years, the OR Business Management Conference will feature a dedicated lineup of content specifically for ambulatory surgery center (ASC) leaders. Join an intimate gathering of ASC administrators, directors, and C-suite executives to dig deeper into financial, operational, and strategic…

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Editor's Note The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) commended Anthem's reversal of a policy to deny anesthesia payment based on arbitrary time limits, which was set for February 2025 in three states. “The now-rescinded policy was inconsistent with prevailing standards, regulations and billing norms, and revealed a diminished dedication to…

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Editor's Note The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) finalized a new rule establishing the Increasing Organ Transplant Access Model, a 6-year, mandatory initiative to enhance access to kidney transplants, improve care quality, and reduce disparities. Managed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the program…

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Editor's Note With the ambulatory surgery center (ASC) market projected to reach $130.6 billion by 2031—a compound annual growth rate of 3.9%—ASC leaders pointed Becker’s ASC Review to key trends and opportunities fueling this growth. Outpatient care continues to expand across various specialties, and several factors are driving this shift,…

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