The following article appeared in the July 2010 issue of Connection, the bi-monthly e-newsletter from the AAAHC.
Following recent changes by Medicare, AAAHC has been required to make revisions to the 2010 Accreditation Handbook for Ambulatory Health Care. The section entitled, Policies and Procedures for Ambulatory Surgery Centers Seeking AAAHC/Medicare Deemed Status, currently found on pages 16-24 of the Handbook, has been revised.
AAAHC has published an addendum to the Handbook which you can review by clicking here (pdf).
The changes occur in the following sections:
All AAAHC/Medicare Deemed Status accredited organizations and those seeking Medicare Deemed Status accreditation from AAAHC are requested to review these policy changes at their earliest convenience.
We recommend that you download the revised pages and incorporate them into your 2010 Handbook. Please note that the revisions to the addendum affect the pagination of the book slightly. To accommodate the additional wording without making major changes to the Handbook, pages 25 and 26 will now occur twice, once in the Policies and Procedures section and again in the section following. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Please note: These revisions apply only to the 2010 Accreditation Handbook. They do not apply to the 2010 Accreditation Guidebook for Office-Based Surgery.
You can sign-up to receive the Connection e-newsletter via e-mail by sending a message to
Learn more about AAAHC.
Read more accreditation and ASC safety tips:
- Guidance for Preventing Patient Falls
- Guidance for Proper Peer Review
- 3 Quick Tips to Better Meet Accreditation Standards
Following recent changes by Medicare, AAAHC has been required to make revisions to the 2010 Accreditation Handbook for Ambulatory Health Care. The section entitled, Policies and Procedures for Ambulatory Surgery Centers Seeking AAAHC/Medicare Deemed Status, currently found on pages 16-24 of the Handbook, has been revised.
AAAHC has published an addendum to the Handbook which you can review by clicking here (pdf).
The changes occur in the following sections:
- 855B Enrollment Process flowchart on page 17 (same page in Handbook and Addendum)
- Random Surveys page 20 (same page in Handbook and Addendum)
- Discretionary Surveys, now page 21 of the Addendum (previously page 20 of the Handbook)
- Pages 21-26 of the Addendum have been modified to reflect changes to the survey process following an AAAHC/Medicare Deemed Status Survey. For a quick overview, please review Steps Following an AAAHC/Medicare Deemed Status Survey on pages 25-26.
All AAAHC/Medicare Deemed Status accredited organizations and those seeking Medicare Deemed Status accreditation from AAAHC are requested to review these policy changes at their earliest convenience.
We recommend that you download the revised pages and incorporate them into your 2010 Handbook. Please note that the revisions to the addendum affect the pagination of the book slightly. To accommodate the additional wording without making major changes to the Handbook, pages 25 and 26 will now occur twice, once in the Policies and Procedures section and again in the section following. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Please note: These revisions apply only to the 2010 Accreditation Handbook. They do not apply to the 2010 Accreditation Guidebook for Office-Based Surgery.
You can sign-up to receive the Connection e-newsletter via e-mail by sending a message to
Learn more about AAAHC.
Read more accreditation and ASC safety tips:
- Guidance for Preventing Patient Falls
- Guidance for Proper Peer Review
- 3 Quick Tips to Better Meet Accreditation Standards