ASC Management Issues

Economic Stimulus Package Sends Clear Message: Adopt EHR Technology Now or Pay the Price Later

Monday, March 16th, 2009

By improving the efficiency and quality of health care services, electronic health records (EHRs) have been hailed as a promising new component of America’s future health care industry. However, due to cost and other perceived implementation obstacles,…

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Stimulus Plan Impacting Health Care

Friday, February 13th, 2009

In an article published February 9 on Bloomberg.com, Betsy McCaughey, former lieutenant governor of New York and adjunct senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, is critical of the stimulus package and “health provisions slipped in without discussion.”  Click here to read the rest.

Kathy Bryant’s Year in Review

Friday, January 30th, 2009

Two big changes confronted ASCs on January 1, 2008. Medicare began paying ASCs based on a new payment system that varied greatly from its predecessor, and the new ASC Association, formed through the merger of the two previous national ASC Associations, began advocating for ASCs in Washington, D.C., and in forums across the country. As…

Fatal Patient Fall Leads to Lawsuit

Tuesday, February 5th, 2008

Danid Bernard
Outpatient Surgery Magazine

The family of a Massachusetts woman who died after falling from an OR table has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against four hospital staff members believed to be present at the time of the fall.

A surgical team had completed a routine hip replacement procedure on Catherine O’Donnell…

30 Years Later, Ambulatory Surgery is Braced for Market, Payment Changes, New ASC Payment System, Quality Reporting to Affect Direction

Monday, January 1st, 2007

Even after 30 years, the outpatient surgery field still is constantly adjusting to changes in procedures, policies, and payments.

Consider these recent actions:

*Surgical procedures are moving not only from traditional hospital-based setting into ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), but also to physician offices.

*A payer has decreased payments for some procedures in…

Quality Reporting on the ASC Side

Monday, January 1st, 2007

As outpatient surgical care has shifted from hospitals to alternative locations, the patient safety and quality regulations and the cost and quality reporting requirements have not moved into that setting, says Ellen Pryga, director of policy for the American Hospital Association in Washington, DC. “We need to get to a place where we have comparable…