Same-Day Surgery – September 1, 2009

September 1, 2009

• Have checks and balances in place, or open the door for embezzlement

  The administrative manager of a surgery center had been asking to have access to the banking account, but the business manager said that the center was "maxed out on users" and he couldn't give her access.

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• Are you ready to conduct surgery on celebrities?

  What do the following famous people have in common? Jill Biden, Pope Benedict XVI, Ozzy Osbourne, and The Dixie Chicks.

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• HIPAA requirements, penalties increased

  According to the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association, the economic stimulus package passed by Congress earlier this year included several changes to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) involving privacy of patient information:

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• Ensuring no retained items is a shared responsibility

  A woman goes in for an abdominal hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy and omentectomy. Subsequent pain, nausea, and vomiting lead to medical attention and hospitalization, but the cause isn't identified.

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• Electronic credentialing might offer benefits

  Every manager wants to believe that the credentialing process has properly vetted all the organization's health care professionals to ensure that they are qualified and have no known criminal record.

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• Most women would choose surgical profession again

  Most women surgeons would choose their careers again, although many would favor more options for part-time or other alternative work schedules, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of Surgery.

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• Same-Day Surgery Manager: Readers are riled over doc/employee column

  Looks like I struck a nerve with the column on physicians as employees ("Meet your new employee: Dr. Smith, surgeon," Same-Day Surgery, July 2009).

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