Infection control is in the spotlight again, as ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) examine a draft Health and Human Services (HHS) document calling for closer scrutiny of precautions in outpatient settings. The agency released a draft of Phase 2 of its National Action Plan to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) on April…

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For a variety of reasons, survey inspectors this year are looking more closely at ambulatory surgery centers (ASC) and other outpatient facilities for evidence of compliance with sharps-safety guidelines. Bloodborne pathogens, of course, have been a concern since awareness of HIV and hepatitis C emerged. Physicians and nurses have long…

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Starting now, in January 2012, ambulatory surgery centers (ASC) and hospital outpatient departments need to be using a safe surgery checklist and keep using it through all of the calendar year. That’s one quality measure in Medicare’s new ASC quality reporting program set forth in the 2012 outpatient payment rule…

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Medicare is starting an experiment that will give hospitals and physicians a single bundled payment for some inpatient cardiac and orthopedic surgery, including total joint replacement. The Acute Care Episode (ACE) demonstration project will be conducted in up to 15 markets in 4 states: Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Colorado.…

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Medicare has proposed more steps to link hospital quality with payment for the 2009 fiscal year and beyond. Nine preventable conditions would be added to the list of those Medicare would no longer pay for at a higher rate. And more than 40 quality indicators would be added to those…

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Beginning next year, Medicare will stop paying hospitals more for treating serious conditions it considers avoidable, such as infections, falls, and objects left in surgical patients. The action is required by a law passed by Congress in 2005. In August, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) identified 8…

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Hospitals would have to report on 10 outpatient quality measures to get a full update in their 2009 outpatient payments, under a proposed Medicare rule issued July 16. Two of the measures affect surgery: timing of antibiotic prophylaxis selection of antibiotic. Other quality measures apply to acute myocardial infarction, pneumonia,…

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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on April 13 posted its proposed FY 2008 inpatient rule, saying it will help improve the accuracy of Medicare payments for inpatients. The proposal also has more incentives to engage in quality improvement efforts. Comments are due by June 12. The rule…

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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) plans to make changes in its interpretive guidelines on 2 issues of particular concern to OR managers—listing names of individuals on the consent form who will be assisting the surgeon and use of alcohol-based prep solutions. A CMS official described the planned…

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