Today’s chat is with Cynthia Hess, MSN, RN, FNP-C, RT(R)(CT)(ARRT), Director of Nursing, Northeast Missouri Ambulatory Surgery Center, Hannibal, MO. Q: What is something that went right at your facility and/or that you are thankful for this year? What I’m thankful for, hands down, is my staff. They take such…

After writing my latest article on surgical robots (Operationalizing a robotics program for evenings, weekends, pp 13–15, 19) for this issue of OR Manager, I reminisced on how the surgical robot has evolved and how my interest in surgical robots began.   Reminiscing about robots It all began with the…

The St Elizabeth Healthcare organization in northern Kentucky has eight facilities, including two surgery centers. The flagship hospital on the Edgewood campus has 534 beds and 22 ORs and typically performs some 14,000 surgical procedures per year. Robots help manage the volume. The Edgewood, Florence, and Ft Thomas hospitals have…

David Shapiro, MD, who is a risk manager/medical director at several ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) near Tallahassee, Florida, has seen his fair share of contracts with anesthesia services. Navigating these types of contracts at a time when anesthesiology is suffering from a workforce shortage and high costs for services is…

Today’s chat is with Tracy Hoeft-Hoffman, MSN, MBA, RN, CASC, Administrator, Heartland Surgery Center, Kearney, Nebraska. Q: What is something that went right at your facility and/or that you are thankful for this year? What has gone right this year and makes our center so successful every year is the…

Compensation has remained relatively flat for leaders in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), according to the 2022 OR Manager Salary/Career Survey, even as leaders face ongoing stressors. This is reflected in the 40% of respondents who reported a total current annual compensation of $120,000 or more—unchanged from 2021. Ongoing stress is…

A lot has happened with ASC quality measure reporting in the last 2 years, especially this year, says Gina Throneberry, MBA, RN, CNOR, CASC, director, education and clinical affairs, Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA). Throneberry spoke at the ASCA annual conference in April. In the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid…

The CDC’s healthcare-associated infection (HAI) prevalence survey estimated that 110,800 surgical site infections (SSIs) were connected with inpatient procedures in 2015. As of 2020, Advancing Surgical Care reported that there are around 5,700 Medicare-certified ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) in the US. Of these, only 6 states require ASCs to use…

As organizations adapt to COVID-19 and the number of severe cases eases in many areas of the country, leaders in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are seeing a significant uptick in volume of surgical procedures, according to the 2022 OR Manager Salary/Career Survey. More than half (56%) reported increased volume in…

Healthcare costs in the US have increased exponentially in recent years. Surgical procedures are especially costly. Cost control without sacrificing high quality care is the ultimate goal for many surgical practices and payers. Alternative practices and payment models have been explored to meet this goal. Episode-based payments, more commonly known…