Legal/Regulatory Issues Preventing infection transmission has been a chief concern of healthcare leaders and staff striving to protect their patients and themselves from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The virus poses an insidious threat that includes the possibility of bronchoscopy-associated transmission of COVID-19. Long before the pandemic, epidemiologist and researcher Cori…
On January 1, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began reimbursing healthcare providers for total hip arthroplasty performed in outpatient hospital settings and total knee arthroplasty in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), thereby opening the floodgates for explosive growth in outpatient total joint arthroplasty (TJA). About a million…
Far fewer cases of COVID-19 have been seen in rural areas of the US than in large urban populations. But even healthcare facilities not inundated with COVID-19 patients have sustained revenue losses and disruptions in standard procedures. One major advantage for Heartland Surgery Center in Kearney, Nebraska, was seeing the…
Elective surgical procedures that were temporarily suspended in mid-March are now on the table—or soon will be—at some US facilities. The ban, announced on March 18 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), was enacted to free up resources for facilities overwhelmed by surges of COVID-19 patients. On…
Data breaches in the healthcare setting are on the rise, according to recent federal statistics. In November 2019, the US Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Civil Rights reported that 29 data breaches affecting 570,565 patients took place, a notable rise from the more than 311,000 people…
Hospitals have long dominated the realms of infection control and antibiotic overuse. Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), which typically release patients the same day of a procedure, use antibiotics less frequently than other facilities, and most do not have an antimicrobial stewardship program. However, some ASC leaders and organizations are encouraging…
In October 2019, AORN released its updated Guideline for Sterilization Packaging, which is based on evidence from peer-reviewed literature. This article includes recommendations from that guideline and addresses common misconceptions about sterilization packaging. Other resources for proper use of sterilization packaging include the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation…
Approximately 5.9 million tons of waste annually comes from the healthcare industry, and one-third of that waste comes directly from the OR. Each year, an increasing number of disposable products are used in the OR. To address this dilemma, an OR recycling performance improvement committee was formed at Massachusetts General…
[This article from the January 2020 issue of OR Manager summarizes information presented at the 2019 OR Manager Conference. The presenter offered tips to help attendees comply with Joint Commission standards and achieve a successful Joint Commission survey. Readers are asked to note the following points of clarification: The presentation…
Keeping up with Medicare’s regulatory and reporting requirements for ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) can be as difficult as ensuring physicians arrive to start their cases on time. “Regulations can change frequently,” says Gina Throneberry, MBA, RN, CASC, CNOR, director of education and clinical affairs for the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association…
