Spine Search — SpineSearch provides recruitment and educational services for spine professionals. The boutique recruitment firm specializes in high-quality search services specifically for the spine industry. The founder, Nicola Hawkinson, MA, NP, brings nearly a decade of experience in the industry to help meet the specific needs of the growing spine industry. www.spine-search.com

Meridian Surgical Partners — Meridian Surgical Partners specializes in the acquisition, development and management of multi-specialty ASCs and surgical facilities. Meridian’s services focus on improving the performance, efficiency, achievement and knowledge of ASCs and other surgery facilities.www.meridiansurgicalpartners.com

Access MediQuip — Access MediQuip is one of the largest providers of outsourced implantable device management solutions. The company is a leader in handling medical device payment and related issues for ASCs. www.accessmediquip.com

The Joint Commission — The Joint Commission has been a leader in healthcare facility accreditation since it was established in 1951. An independent, not-for-profit organization, The Joint Commission accredits and certifies more than 16,000 healthcare organizations and programs in the United States. The Joint Commission accreditation and certification is recognized nationwide as a symbol of quality that reflects an organization’s commitment to meeting certain performance standards. Its Ambulatory Care Accreditation Program as been accrediting ambulatory surgery facilities since 1975, and has more than 1,600 ambulatory organizations accredited nationwide. www.jointcommission.org

The C/N Group — The C/N Group is a family-owned and operated company that develops and operates ASCs, imaging centers and several other healthcare properties across the county. Serving the healthcare industry since 1980, The C/N Group’s services include project development, healthcare management and healthcare consulting. www.thecng.com

HealthMark Partners —  HealthMark Partners owns and operates single- and multi-specialty ASCs throughout the United States and specializes in turnaround and de novo joint-venture projects with physicians or with physicians and hospitals. The company is led by a management team that is experienced in facility development, acquisitions and syndication as well as payor, personnel, vendors and financial management. www.healthmarkpartners.com

Cygnus Medical — Cygnus Medical specializes in products and services for the endoscopy suite, operating room and sterile processing department. Its products include endoscopy products, swabs and instrument cleaning brushes, protective tray liners and pouches for instruments and patient positioning aids. Cygnus Medical is a full-service, national repair facility which performs sharpening and deburring, spring, pin, screw replacement, alignment and adjustment, carbide insert replacement, reinsulation, tray repair and color-coding and taping. www.cygnusmedical.com

ASC Billing Specialists — ASC Billing Specialists is a billing company dedicated to the needs of the ASC market, specializing in both out-of-network and in-network facilities. ASC Billing takes a team approach to help facilities focus on surgeries while still getting paid. It provides a variety of services including A/R management, third-party negotiation, staff training and office setup and denials, medical stalls and appeals.www.ascbill.com

Hospitalists Management Group — HMG is a nationwide provider of turnkey hospitalist solutions. The company is one of the largest physician-owned, equal-equity hospitalist groups in the country, with more than 400 physicians serving 42 different locations. HMG provides 24/7 inpatient and critical care coverage and a variety of other healthcare services to hospitals. Each HMG practice site is separately incorporated, running as its own business with the support of the HMG operations team who facilitate the seamless support of a variety of hospital functions. www.hmgdoc.com

9 Companies to Know

Related posts

• Co-Founder of Successful Oklahoma Surgery Center Shares Advice for Growing Your ASC (0)
• 10 Top Surgery Center Stories of 2008 (0)
• Rethinking ASC Business Models and Embracing Joint Ventures (0)
• The Changing Face of ASC Reimbursement (0)
• Results of 2009 HealthCare Appraisers Surgery Center Valuation Survey (0)

Source: Advance for Health Information Professionals’ 2008 Salary Survey (pdf).

Average Coder Salaries by Employer Type

Related posts

• Manage heart patients 5 ways (0)
• Tomorrow’s Eye Revenue (0)
• Hosting a Health Fair at Your Surgery Center: 8 Steps for Planning a Successful Event (0)
• Orthopedic Surgery Salary Statistics by Region (0)
• Increased Use of Drugs for Mental Illness and Other Health News (0)

To see more click here

Microrobots are on the horizon as well.  Miniature robots that are swallowed to gather information and/or images so more accurate and perhaps fewer incisions for the patient.

To see more click here

As new technology evolves, the cataract procedure keeps evolving as well.  Smaller incisions, instruments, intraocular lenses keep pushing forward the newest techniques.  NASA has even provided new technology that can detect the formation of a cataract before it is clinically visible, thus a camera predicting the future arrival of a cataract.

To view the PDF please click here.

As the future of surgery, our greatest challenges will still be, to maintain the highest level of surgical outcomes while justifying the return on investment for hospitals and surgical centers.  As our future looks so ever exciting in the world of surgery we dare to look behind at what cost will be following.

The Future of Surgery

Related posts

• Benchmarking Stats for Surgery Centers (0)
• Tenet and Blue Shield of California Sign Agreement (0)
• Cogdell Spencer Announces New Regional Presidents for Erdman (0)
• Stryker 1Q Net Income Falls 3.2% (0)
• CIGNA University helps consumers navigate through healthcare (0)

I was lucky to be accompanied by long-time friend and fellow choir singer, Anne Black.  She was invaluable in helping me get around, figure where to go, and graciously serve as constant companion.  So many people help me accomplish the work of this Campaign!

This year I was privileged and humbled to be a Refresher Course lecturer.  I spoke for 24 minutes of a 2-hour panel on Sunday afternoon, October 18.  The panel was titled Best Practices:  It’s Not Just Science, and my speech was titled Be Aware:  The

Role of Patient Advocates. The session was opened and moderated by Dr. Dan Cole; and other speakers included Dr. Jeffrey Apfelbaum (past president of the ASA) and Dr. Karen Domino (head of all of ASA’s registries, including the awareness registry).  The session, held in a double room, was very well attended. Both the moderator and Dr. Apfelbaum said they had searched the records of ASA meetings, and this was the first time “a patient has addressed the Society.”  Being unable to see any of the audience, I had no visual feedback as I spoke, and while being repositioned after my speech, was unaware of what I am told was sincere and sustained applause.  The panel did not have time to accept the hoped-for 30 minutes of Q&A.

We had some terrific meals with various friends and organizations.

Relationships were renewed, established, and strengthened during these evenings.  It seems to be assumed that there is much free time at ASA meetings, but in reality, I had exactly 2 hours of “tourist” time before we caught our plane home after 6 very busy days!  The convention hall was just short of a mile (according to hall officials) and many were the times we had one meeting at one end (which Anne named Florida) and the next at the other end (a.k.a. Texas!).

I spoke at a book signing of a friend, Dr. Fred Ernst, on Tuesday night.

A special experience was being the “subject” of two Problem-Based Learning Discussions moderated  by Dr. Don Mathews.  These are small groups (about 12) where the discussion is interactive.  At one of the sessions there was another awareness victim/anesthesiologist and also an anesthesiologist who had had a known awareness victim (both international attendees); at the other there were two anesthesiologists with known awareness victims, besides myself.

There was a tremendous number of sessions having something to do with awareness or consciousness in some form or other.

Thinking back to 2004, when a guard tried to deny me admission to a meeting, and most meeting moderators reminded their audience that there were “non-anesthesiologists in the audience,” this year’s meeting showed amazing progress.  In those early meetings, my website was often projected on the lecture screens with disdain and ridicule; this year the Campaign was on many screens as a significant force in a positive manner.

The last 11-1/2 years have not been easy for me or for the ASA to accept.  The last 3 years have been ones of great progress, trust, and collaboration.  The 2009 meeting was historic and humbling.  Those who heard me speak listened politely and intently, and in my opinion, many of them “got it!”

I’m happy that I see my work as a God-given mission.  It certainly hasn’t been easy, and my heart breaks each time a new victim calls.  I’m not at my goal yet:  that of being obsolete.  We’re not at the goal of “One case is one too many.”  We all are certainly moving toward home base.  Never, ever give up!

One case is one too many

Related posts

• Orion Medical Announces New Centers, Corporate Office (0)
• Op Note Dictation – A Simple, Inexpensive Alternative (0)
• Statins, fibrates valuable in heart disease treatment (0)
• Hematology/Oncology Salary Statistics by Region (0)
• Giving it away (2)

The 2010 NPSGs are fewer in number than in years past due to increased compliance by accredited organizations for certain goals and similar concepts in accreditation standards. The NPSGs are designed as a high-level spotlight of critical areas in patient safety. As compliance improves, goals are moved out of the NPSGs but remain part of accreditation standards, according to Michael Kulczycki, executive director for the Ambulatory Care Accreditation Program. Nearly one-fourth of the 2009 NPSGs were eliminated from the 2010 NPSGs, and another 30 percent were moved to standards.

Several clarifications were made in the 2010 NPSGs regarding the Universal Protocol. The 2010 NPSGs require the licensed independent practitioner responsible for the procedure to mark the site. However, in limited circumstances, site marking may be delegated to an individual in a medical residency program who is being supervised by the licensed independent practitioner performing the procedure and who is familiar with the patient and will be present when the procedure is performed. A licensed individual who performs duties requiring a collaborative agreement or supervisory agreement with the licensed independent practitioner performing the procedure, such as an advanced practice registered nurse or physician assistant, who is familiar with the patient and will be present when the procedure is performed may also be used in limited situations.

When time-outs must occur has also been clarified. They should take place before the incision is made or the procedure is started. Organizations may choose to conduct the time out before the provision of anesthesia. Additionally, organizations need only to document that the Universal Protocol has occurred in patient charts; documenting each step of the Universal Protocol is not necessary. There were also changes to the pre-procedure verification. References to the location (pre-procedure area) and timing of the verification will be removed. The term “checklist” will be replaced by a reference to a standardized list to be used in the verification process. The term “checklist” implied the need to document each step for each patient. A note will be added clarifying that documentation of the use of the standardized list on a per patient basis is not required, according to The Joint Comission.

The 2010 ambulatory care NPSGs are (overarching goals are in italics):

Improve the accuracy of patient identification.

• Use at least two patient identifiers when providing care, treatment or services.
• Eliminate transfusion errors related to patient misidentification.

Improve the safety of using medications.

• Label all medications, medication containers (for example, syringes, medicine cups, basins) or other solutions on and off the sterile field.
• Reduce the likelihood of patient harm associated with the use of anticoagulation therapy.
• Reduce the risk of health care-associated infections.
• Comply with current World Health Organization hand hygiene guidelines or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hand hygiene guidelines.
• Implement evidence-based practices for preventing surgical site infections.

Accurately and completely reconcile medications across the continuum of care.*

• A process exists for comparing the patient’s current medications with those ordered for the patient while under the care of the organization.*
• When a patient is referred or transferred from one organization to another, the complete and reconciled list of medications is communicated to the next provider of service and the communication is documented. Alternatively, when a patient leaves the organization’s care directly to his or her home, the complete and reconciled list of medications is provided to the patient’s known primary care provider, or the original referring provider, or a known next provider of service.*
• When a patient leaves the organization’s care, a complete and reconciled list of the patient’s medications is provided directly to the patient, and the patient’s family as needed, and the list is explained to the patient and/or family.*
• In settings where medications are used minimally, or prescribed for a short duration, modified medication reconciliation processes are performed.

The organization meets the expectations of the Universal Protocol.

• Conduct a pre-procedure verification process.
• Mark the procedure site.
• A time out is performed before the procedure.

* Denotes that compliance with the requirement is evaluated during on-site surveys, but is not factored into survey findings..

View the 2010 ambulatory care National Patient Safety Goals (pdf).

Joint Commission Announces 2010 National Patient Safety Goals

Related posts

• Congress considers sweeping changes to False Claims Act (0)
• Op Note Dictation – A Simple, Inexpensive Alternative (0)
• Will the Federal Government Shut Down Surgery Centers and Physician-Owned Hospital (0)
• Obama’s Push for Healthcare Reform and Other Health News (0)
• 4 Critical Concepts From the Latest Stark Act Regulations (0)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has assembled a 10-step guideline for response to the potential fall outbreak. Here is an overview:

1. Develop a Business Continuity Plan

Developing a concise plan requires several steps. Project initiation, risk assessment, planned exercising and maintenance, emergency communication and awareness, and training and coordination with public authorities are all vital components. An assessment on how your facility functions internally and externally and having a business continuity plan will be essential to controlling the impact on your staff, suppliers and organization.

2. Keep Employees Informed

Open communication with employees that addresses new polices and procedures will ensure comfort and confidence in understanding how to cope with a potential outbreak. Your business continuity plan will reach optimum potential with direct staff communication.

3. Plan for Facility Operation with Low Staff Attendance

Staff can easily become ill and may miss work for several days; be ready to operate smoothly without them. Cross-train your staff on tasks associated with all aspects of work flow within your ASC to increase productivity and provide back-up if needed.

4. Protect the Workplace Environment

While a normal attendance rate can seem reassuring, having sick employees on the job is anything but! Be sure to ask sick staff to stay at home. All personnel should administer daily self monitoring for signs and symptoms of febrile respiratory illness. Staff who develop any symptoms should not report to work, or if at work, should cease patient-care activities. Notification and sick leave policies should be in alignment so ill staff are able to stay home and recover.

5. Plan for a Surge of Patients and Increased Demands for your Services

ASCs can help in times of a pandemic in the community. Consider extending your hours of operation to include telephone triage of patients. This will significantly help assure continuity of operations during a community outbreak.

6. Know How to Deal with Patients Exhibiting Flu-like Illness

ASCs automatically screen patients for signs of illness before their surgery; this is especially critical during flu season, which runs from October through May.

7. Protect the Health of your Workforce

Keeping employees healthy is just as important as your patients’ health. Respiratory and eye protection are two items all healthcare personnel should be using when in direct contact with symptomatic patients. Plan to have sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) for your staff.

8. Provide Free Immunization Against Seasonal Flu

Several influenza strains circulate during the fall season. Annual immunization is recommended to protect your staff against common threats of the flu.

9. Be Aware of Pandemic Planning and Response Activities in your Community

Seek information and coordinate with local hospitals, other outpatient and public-health facilities to learn about their plans for pandemic management. Community response coordination is key to maintaining optimal patient care in communities with a large number of outbreaks.

10. Don’t Wait, Plan Now

With the fall season here, early preparation is key. Stay up-to-date on the CDC H1N1 flu Web site, and local and state health departments for the latest information.

The true impact of novel H1N1 flu outbreaks has begun to arise in recent months. Early preparation for patient, employee and facility care is essential. For more information on the CDC’s 10 Steps You Can Take: Actions for Novel H1N1 Influenza Planning and Response for Medical Offices and Outpatient Facilities, visithttp://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/10steps.html.

When Novel H1N1 Flu Knocks at Your Facility Door

Related posts

• More CDHPs prompt more actionable info (0)
• 10 Statistics About Surgery Centers in the Southwest (0)
• Lupus Drug Sees Success in Trial and Other Health News (1)
• Amerinet Announces New Agreements With Medical Action Industries, Wittern Group and E.M. Adams (0)
• 11 Key Concepts From the Stark Law (0)

The agreement with ODS Medical, effective through, Aug. 30, 2012 offers Amerinet members savings on the PACScomm suite of CD/DVD image recording, distribution and archiving systems.

Amerient also announced agreements with Hershey Creamery and Kegel’s Produce.

Learn more about Amerinet.

Amerinet Annouces New Agreements With Mercy Surgical Dressing Group, ODS Medical

Related posts

• Coalition to push quality, affordability (0)
• How to Purchase the Right EMR Software for Your Practice (0)
• Please vist us at AORN (0)
• Top 10 States With the Lowest Payments for Medical Malpractice Claims (0)
• Swine Flu and Other Health News (2)

1. There is no automated denial management system. Receiving denials from payors is one aspect of the billing and collections process surgery centers deal with on a routine basis. However, Mr. Voithofer says many ASCs fail to implement a system of tracking and trending for these denials, which is, in his opinion, the most common mistake ASCs make when it comes to their billing practices.

“Most surgery centers will fix the individual denial, resubmit the claim and in many cases eventually receive payment,” Mr. Voithofer says. “But, they don’t aggregate these denials in a report to see what the root causes of the denials are.”

Mr. Voithofer suggests developing denial reports so that the center can look at denials by payor, surgeon, referring physician, procedure, etc. “Centers can use these reports to pinpoint where errors and omissions that most frequently result in denials occur and then attempt to reduce those mistakes through education,” he says.

Gathering data on the number and dollar amounts of denials can also provide ASCs with additional information when discussing problems with payors or surgeons.

“If one payor is consistently denying claims, arrange to meet with that payor to change the activity,” Mr. Voithofer says.

2. One staff member is responsible for the duties of many. Surgery centers often only employ one or two coders and/or billers to handle all of the functions of the billing office. According to Mr. Voithofer, this can lead to errors due to the volume and variety of work the billers are required to do.

“Typically, centers find one or two employees to perform all functions, and they expect that single person to be an expert in all of them,” Mr. Voithofer says. “This rarely works.  We typically see that they will excel at some, but fail at others; a Jack of all trades is a master of none.”

While some centers are able to work well with just a few billers and coders, Mr. Voithofer notes that in other centers something — compliance, cash collections, etc. — will usually suffer as a result. Adding staff or outsourcing some operations may be justifiable if a decrease in errors and increase in efficiency leads to improved financial results that cover these costs.

3. Inaccurate dictation can lead to underbilling or overbilling. Coders rely on accurate dictation of procedures from surgeons so they can bill appropriately for them. Mr. Voithofer says that many times coders will bill correctly for the main procedures but miss add-ons if the report is not clear.

“Dictation and transcription are often done quickly so they can get to billing,” Mr. Voithofer says. “However, ASCs can take these missed add-ons as opportunities to educate staff members and find more revenue.”

Mr. Voithofer suggests having coders sit down and look over reports with the surgeons every six months.

“The coder can say to the surgeon, ‘When you do this procedure, you missed these steps in the report,’” he says. “Or the coder can help to point out trends in the surgeon’s procedures. By looking over the reports, the coder and the surgeon can try to create a thorough report so that centers are not over- or under-billing.”

Mr. Voithofer does caution that the purpose of this analysis is to address deficiencies in documentation, not to look for an opportunity to “pile on the charges.” Clinically appropriate documentation and coding is the objective.

Learn more about AdvantEdge Healthcare Solutions.

3 Common Surgery Center Billing, Coding and Collection Mistakes

Related posts

• Protect Your Windows PC from the Conficker Worm (1)
• 10 Critical Policies and Procedures for ASC Risk Management (0)
• Information aggregation: Safe harbor allows companies to model strategies that drive value (0)
• Study Finds Quality of Care Not Linked to Cost of Care (0)
• OR Supersuites and Capital Equipment (0)

The issues, now on the DCS Web site, include pharmacy supply and dispensing fees, wheelchair bundling and urological bundling.

DCS Healthcare covers providers in Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Visit the DCS Healthcare Web page on issues for RAC audits.

Medicare RAC for Northeast Region Releases First Issues for Auditing

Related posts

• Congress Subpoenas Peanut Boss on Salmonella Outbreak and Other Health News (0)
• Diabetes Drug Setback and Other Health News (0)
• “Green” Medical Products: Is it Possible? (0)
• WellCare Agrees to Pay $80M in Florida Healthcare Fraud Case (0)
• Cardiometabolic Care Links (0)

The Apex winners are 23 ASCs, endoscopy centers and surgical hospitals from 14 different states. The winners represent healthcare facilities who consistently achieved the highest level of patient satisfaction for 2008-2009, according to the report. Key performance indicators common to all ASCs and specialty hospitals are used to determine the award winners.

“Excellence merits recognition,” Paul G. Faraclas, president and CEO of CTQ, said in the release. “As the industry leader in outpatient surveying, CTQ is proud to assume the responsibility of honoring healthcare’s elite organizations.”

The complete list of Apex Quality Award recipients includes (alphabetically):

• ASCs: Dearborn Surgery Center, Eye Surgery Center of Nashville, Glasgow Surgery Center, Indiana Surgery Center Noblesville, Lakeland Surgical & Diagnostic Center, Marysville Ohio Surgical Center, Midland Surgical Center, New Braunfels Surgical Center, Ohio Surgery Center, Ridgewood Surgery and Endoscopy Center, South Texas Surgical Center, Southern New Mexico Surgery Center, St. Lucie Surgery Center, Surgery Center at Hamilton, Surgery Center of Decatur and UnaSource Surgery Center
• Endoscopy centers: Community Center for Digestive Care, Lebanon Endoscopy Center and Wichita Falls Endoscopy Center
• Surgical hospitals: Fairway Medical Center, Manhattan Surgical Hospital and Surgical Hospital of Munster

To learn more about the Apex Quality Award and eligibility requirements, click here.

Learn more about CTQ Solutions.

CTQ Solutions Announces 2009 Apex Quality Award Winners for Healthcare Excellence

Related posts

• Alcon Breaks Ground in Singapore on First Asian Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Plant (0)
• NovaMed Acquires ASC in Louisiana (0)
• Inc. Magazine Names Implantable Provider Group One of Country’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies (0)
• Case Study: Temporary Facility Strategy Speeds Development of Joint-Venture (0)
• AAPC to Launch Training for ICD-10 Implementation (0)