Here are seven recent news updates for ambulatory surgery center leaders to know for Oct. 15, 2015.
Price transparency could play a role in quality improvement.
A study published by UnitedHealthcare has found that tools designed to help patients estimate the cost of care may also play a role improving the quality of care provided. The payer based the study on its myHealthcare Cost Estimator. Early results of the study indicate that patients using the cost estimation tool tended to choose physicians that were considered high-quality and efficient.
Two Dallas healthcare workers now have Ebola.
Nina Pham, a 26-year-old nurse, is the first person to test positive for the virus after caring for Thomas Eric Duncan, the patient at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas who contracted the disease in Liberia and died at the hospital in October. A second healthcare worker from Texas Health Presbyterian — identified in many reports as Amber Vinson, a 29-year-old nurse from the hospital — tested positive for Ebola Oct. 15. She was admitted to Texas Health Presbyterian the morning of Oct. 14 with a low-grade fever. Read the full report on Becker's Hospital Review.
BCBSIL, Illinois Gastroenterology Group launch intensive medical home.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois and Illinois Gastroenterology Group in Elgin have partnered to create an intensive medical home program focused on Crohn's disease. Read the full report on Becker's ASC Review.
St. Rose ASC becomes joint venture.
Great Bend, Kan.-based Centura Health and Hays Medical Center (HaysMed) have signed a letter of intent to co-own St. Rose Ambulatory & Surgery Center. While both organizations are working to expand the physician staff of the center, the staff will be both employed and managed by HaysMed. The center’s administrator will be selected by the St. Rose Health Center Board, and the board itself will include equal representation from both hospitals.
Majority of PPACA insured to change healthcare plans in 2015.
Two-thirds of Americans insured under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act plan to switch healthcare plans in 2015. Read the full report on Becker's Hospital Review.
Northwestern Memorial opens Chicago ASC.
Chicago-based Northwestern Memorial Hospital has opened a 25-story outpatient surgery center downtown and will start surgeries there Oct. 20. The $330 million dollar construction boosts the hospital’s ability to see surgical outpatients by one-third, about 600,000 patients. It also includes several floors of parking and will house dining options later this year and early next.
AtlantiCare Surgery Center featured for ASC safety.
Egg Harbor, N.J.-based AtlantiCare Surgery Center has been featured in a pressofAtlanticCity article on the benefits of ambulatory surgery. The article addresses concerns over the quality of ASC care in the wake of comedienne Joan Rivers’ death and follows a patient’s knee replacement story at AtlantiCare.
More articles on ASC issues:
Managing a PR crisis: 8 pro tips for ASCs
Tool: Preparing for Ebola in the OR
8 hospitals/health systems opening ASCs
Price transparency could play a role in quality improvement.
A study published by UnitedHealthcare has found that tools designed to help patients estimate the cost of care may also play a role improving the quality of care provided. The payer based the study on its myHealthcare Cost Estimator. Early results of the study indicate that patients using the cost estimation tool tended to choose physicians that were considered high-quality and efficient.
Two Dallas healthcare workers now have Ebola.
Nina Pham, a 26-year-old nurse, is the first person to test positive for the virus after caring for Thomas Eric Duncan, the patient at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas who contracted the disease in Liberia and died at the hospital in October. A second healthcare worker from Texas Health Presbyterian — identified in many reports as Amber Vinson, a 29-year-old nurse from the hospital — tested positive for Ebola Oct. 15. She was admitted to Texas Health Presbyterian the morning of Oct. 14 with a low-grade fever. Read the full report on Becker's Hospital Review.
BCBSIL, Illinois Gastroenterology Group launch intensive medical home.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois and Illinois Gastroenterology Group in Elgin have partnered to create an intensive medical home program focused on Crohn's disease. Read the full report on Becker's ASC Review.
St. Rose ASC becomes joint venture.
Great Bend, Kan.-based Centura Health and Hays Medical Center (HaysMed) have signed a letter of intent to co-own St. Rose Ambulatory & Surgery Center. While both organizations are working to expand the physician staff of the center, the staff will be both employed and managed by HaysMed. The center’s administrator will be selected by the St. Rose Health Center Board, and the board itself will include equal representation from both hospitals.
Majority of PPACA insured to change healthcare plans in 2015.
Two-thirds of Americans insured under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act plan to switch healthcare plans in 2015. Read the full report on Becker's Hospital Review.
Northwestern Memorial opens Chicago ASC.
Chicago-based Northwestern Memorial Hospital has opened a 25-story outpatient surgery center downtown and will start surgeries there Oct. 20. The $330 million dollar construction boosts the hospital’s ability to see surgical outpatients by one-third, about 600,000 patients. It also includes several floors of parking and will house dining options later this year and early next.
AtlantiCare Surgery Center featured for ASC safety.
Egg Harbor, N.J.-based AtlantiCare Surgery Center has been featured in a pressofAtlanticCity article on the benefits of ambulatory surgery. The article addresses concerns over the quality of ASC care in the wake of comedienne Joan Rivers’ death and follows a patient’s knee replacement story at AtlantiCare.
More articles on ASC issues:
Managing a PR crisis: 8 pro tips for ASCs
Tool: Preparing for Ebola in the OR
8 hospitals/health systems opening ASCs