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Meeting the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Health Care Organizations standard for competency assessment of staff was a problem for 14% of ambulatory care organizations and 15% of office-based surgery organizations surveyed in 2004, according to Joint Commission statistics.
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The two new items added to the 2006 National Patient Safety Goals were ones that received the highest marks in the first-ever field review of proposed patient safety goals for outpatient surgery programs.
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Two resources that address the security rule of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) are available on the Internet.
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Like the rest of the operating room world, I began my career in the not-for-profit hospital environment. I was around in the early days of surgery centers; and for a number of reasons, I made the switch to the for-profit world of surgery centers. I have learned much.
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is required by law to implement a new payment system for ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) by Jan. 1, 2008.
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To avoid medication errors, the scrub person and the circulating nurse should concurrently verify all medications and solutions visually and verbally by reading the product name, strength, and dosage from the labels, advises the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) in Huntingdon Valley, PA.
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The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) posts answers to frequently asked questions related to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy rule on its web site: www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa.
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This column addresses specific questions related to implementation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).