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As part of The Joint Commission's Speak Up initiatives for patient safety, the agency is offering colorful posters that feature the characters from the Speak Up videos. The posters can be downloaded for free.
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When examining compliance issues before your survey by The Joint Commission, consider the quote from former president Ronald Reagan: "Trust, but verify."
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released proposed guidelines for Medicare's new ASC quality reporting program, available by the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA) on ASCA Connect at http://bit.ly/K6OM1O. According to the ASCA, the proposal provides the following information:
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(Editor's note: Have you experienced sexism in your position? Or do you know of a good way to avoid this problem creeping up in your program? Contact Joy Dickinson, Executive Editor, at
[email protected].)
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In what the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA) is labeling a victory in the final ASC quality reporting elements, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) accepted the association's proposal to exclude any secondary payer claims from the data completeness calculation.
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The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is scaling back its oversight of needle safety issues in ambulatory care and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), though noting that some 3,200 inspections done in fiscal years 2010 and 2011 "have found that deficient infection control practices are widespread in ASCs," according to a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
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A patient shows up for outpatient surgery and informs you she has a microdermal implant. You're not sure exactly what that is or what that means in terms of pressure points, friction when moving, or other issues.
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Results of a nationwide survey of hospital executives who make decisions regarding capital equipment in hospitals indicated that operating room (OR) caseloads and costs will continue to rise over the next three years, driven by growth in both outpatient and inpatient procedures.
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Although patients might need the strong pain relief that only opioids can provide, a Sentinel Event Alert issued by The Joint Commission urges healthcare providers to take specific steps to prevent serious complications or even deaths from opioid use.
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In the Quality Report released by the ASC Quality Collaboration, falls in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) have increased for the first quarter 2012 to 0.153 per 1,000 admissions. This number is higher than the second, third, or fourth quarters of 2011, the group reports.