Data for benchmarking your OR's performance
Hospitals are facing stiff economic winds. They are challenged by shrinking reimbursement from Medicare and Medicare, even as more patients will be covered by these publicly funded programs. Perioperative managers and directors are under pressure to make the most of their department’s resources. You’re being asked to measure every aspect…
‘Operation Zero’ targets surgical site infections
A surgical site infection (SSI) prevention “bundle” is helping OR teams at Maine Medical Center (MMC) in Portland to further a strategic goal of preventing SSIs. Known as Operation Zero, or “Op-Z,” the initiative is led by the chief of surgery, Brad Cushing, MD, with inspiration from a family whose…
Hospitals losing on physician preference items
An analysis by Premier of data from 323 of its member hospitals shows they are losing $1.82 billion annually for 12 orthopedic and cardiac case categories because of Medicare reimbursement shortfalls. Lack of evidence-based outcomes data and the rising cost of physician preference items (PPIs) are also cited as reasons…
Taking control of implant processing practices
Are you following recommended practices when processing implants? Both the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) and the Association of Perioperative Nurses (AORN) state that a load containing an implant should be quarantined until the results of the biological indicator (BI) testing are available. The rationale is to…
Providing safe care for obese patients in the ASC
Patients are getting heavier, and outpatients are no exception. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) classifies nearly one-third of Americans as obese. Meanwhile, the number of procedures deemed suitable for ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) is increasing. That is not a problem if patients are properly screened, experts agree,…
What's expected for use of safe surgery checklist?
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…
What’s needed for reprocessing, storage of laryngoscope blades?
OR Manager; Vol. 27 No. 12; December 2011 An occasional column on Joint Commission issues. The reprocessing and storage of laryngoscope blades has been a hot button for Joint Commission surveyors, and OR managers have been asking how they can comply with the expectations. In answer, the Joint Commission on…
Surgery, supply chain teams forge stronger link
OR Manager; Vol. 27 No. 12; December 2011 Take the right people and add the right software and the right processes. The result: an end-to-end surgical supply and inventory management system built on trust that yields useful data for decision making. In 2010, its first year, the team at the…
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