ASC Accreditation, Licensure & Medicare Certification

Here are seven statistics on single-specialty orthopedic ambulatory surgery center outcomes from the ASC Association's Outcomes Monitoring Project 2nd Quarter (April-June) 2011 Report, which saw more than 600 ASCs participating in the survey.

Here are eight clinical findings from an AAAHC Institute for Quality Improvement 2011 study on low back injection. Forty-five organizations that perform a combined total of more than 55,000 low back injections annually participated in the study.

In the Nov. 17 edition of the ASCA Government Affairs Update, the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association is reminding ASCs that CMS is expecting them to use a safe surgical checklist for the entire 2012 calendar year as part of the…

The New Jersey Assembly Health Committee will consider a bill on Monday that would make all surgical facilities — including single-room surgical practices, multi-room ambulatory surgery centers and hospitals — subject to the same licensing by the state health department,…

AAAHC has announced there will only be two outcomes for organizations undergoing a survey from the accreditor: three-year term or denial of accreditation, according to a report in the Nov. issue of Connection, the AAAHC's e-newsletter.

A new bill has been introduced in Pennsylvania that would require Pennsylvania hospitals and other healthcare facilities to take steps to protect nurses and other healthcare workers from workplace violence, according to a news release from the Pennsylvania Association of…

The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network has placed University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's transplant program on probation, following a series of events in which the hospital's lack of oversight led to the transplant of a kidney from a donor infected…

The Joint Commission provides free "Speak Up" videos encouraging patients to take a role in preventing healthcare errors.

The Minnesota Hospital Association, as part of its "SAFE from FALLS" campaign, a statewide initiative aimed at preventing people from falling during a hospital stay, provides two free, download fall prevention policies.

Sheldon S. Sones, RPh, FASCP, is president of Sheldon S. Sones and Associates, a pharmacy and accreditation consulting firm based in Newington, Conn.   Q: What is the accepted and recommended process for disposing expired medications?   Sheldon S. Sones:…