Critics call quality report changes impractical, pay updates unfair
Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are asking the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to reconsider the next round of quality measures contained in the Calendar Year 2014 Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Proposed Rule and to revisit the payment update formula. Quality Collaboration: Revise measures In a memorandum to…
Comprehensive dashboards paint a fuller picture of OR performance
OR Business Performance is a series intended to help OR managers and directors improve the success of their business. Data-rich dashboards are an effective way to communicate with surgeons and align them with OR goals, but many reporting strategies have not kept pace with changes in the surgery market.…
New quality measures, tight deadline mark CMS payment rule for ASCs
It sounds like déjà vu all over again, as Yogi Berra used to say. That is likely to be the first reaction of many ambulatory surgery center (ASC) administrators to the Calendar Year 2014 Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Proposed Rule. Pay formula unchanged Medicare payment updates would continue at…
Medicare may drop bariatric surgery center certification requirement
Supporters of the bariatric surgery facility certification established in 2006 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are anxiously awaiting the agency’s final ruling on whether to reverse that decision. CMS issued a proposed decision memo in June and is expected to make its final ruling by the…
New CMS guidelines suggest changes in advance directive policies
Ambulatory surgery patients who become incapacitated should have their wishes for care honored, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) stresses in its new guidelines. Previously, the guidelines permitted an ambulatory surgery center (ASC), for reasons of conscience or policy, to refuse to honor advance directives calling for cessation…
ASCs must prepare to meet latest CMS infection control expectations
A perennial concern associated with surgery is avoidance of infection. As science reveals new risks and remedies, protocols change and so do regulations. To monitor infection control at ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), surveyors use a 15-page worksheet from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The ASC Infection Control…
CMS proposes modifying ASC rule requiring staff radiology services
Many ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) have little need for a staff radiologist because only a few procedures require on-site imaging. Yet, ASCs are subject to a rule similar to those that require hospitals to keep radiologists on staff. That will no longer be true if a proposed change takes effect…
2013 IPPS rule advances Medicare quality programs
Medicare’s inpatient prospective payment rule for fiscal year 2013 updates payment rates and adds to quality initiatives like value-based purchasing (VBP) and quality reporting. The rule issued August 1, 2012, takes effect October 1, 2012. Here are the highlights. Payment rates Inpatient payment rates will increase by 2.8% for…
Medicare rules allow broader use of nonphysicians
Hospitals now have the flexibility under federal law to include practitioners other than physicians on their medical staffs. That’s one provision of Medicare’s revised Conditions of Participation (COP) for hospitals and critical access hospitals, which take effect July 16, 2012. The revision is the first major overhaul of the COPs…
CMS expert offers advice on ASC quality reporting
With the early issuance of quality reporting codes for Medicare, both ambulatory surgery centers (ASC) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have a chance to develop expertise in their use and to resolve any technical problems before the mandatory start date of October 1, 2012. And that…
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