ASC Accreditation, Licensure & Medicare Certification

A New Jersey bill that would require licensing for one-operating room surgery centers in the state has been amended, and the New Jersey Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers has expressed its satisfaction with the changes.

Eight ambulatory surgical centers and hospitals joined with the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare to address the factors of wrong-site surgeries, which are estimated to occur 40 times a week based on state data.

The four ambulatory surgery centers of Florida's BayCare Health System undergo an annual, unannounced drill to prepare for the possibility of their information systems going down, according to Nancy Burden, director, BayCare Ambulatory Surgery.

Gundersen Lutheran Health System in La Crosse, Wis., has created job action cards in the event of a radiological incident.

Amerinet, a national healthcare group purchasing organization, has released a new toolkit focusing on the safe handling of hazardous drugs.

There's an element of risk management in almost every function and process that occurs in an ambulatory surgery center, says Carol Hiatt, RN, LHRM, CASC, a licensed risk manager in Florida and Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care surveyor who…

A group of healthcare and patient safety experts have called for reforms in the design, supervision and financing of U.S. hospital residency programs to protect patients from serious, preventable medical errors, according to a news release.

OSHA has published a two-page, downloadable fact sheet on how to properly handle contaminated sharps.

The American Medical Association has developed a medication safety checklist which is available for free download.

Spurred by the threat of no reimbursement for services related to healthcare-acquired conditions, many hospitals have rushed to begin patient safety initiatives. Most successful patient safety programs, however, need to be supported by long-term goals and strategies.