The Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia rebuked a story by Kaiser Health News and USA Today, stressing that millions of procedures have been safely performed in an ASC or hospital outpatient setting.
Here's what you should know.
1. The news organizations conducted investigative reporting attempting to document the number of deaths and track quality at surgery centers. Reporters examined autopsy records, legal filings as well as state and Medicaid inspection records. They conducted several interviews with physicians, health policy experts and patients. They referred to the reporting as the most extensive examination of these records to date finding 260 patients died at surgery centers since 2013. They spoke to the surviving family members of many of these patients and described the events surrounding the deaths in detail.
2. SAMBA noted several details defending outpatient surgery centers as facilities that maximize patient safety. More than 70 percent of surgeries in the U.S. occur in outpatient facilities, including hospital outpatient departments, ASCs and office-based surgical suites.
3. The society emphasized clinical outcomes are continuously monitored, and quality improvement protocols are focused on maintaining outcomes that meet or exceed clinical benchmarks in all such facilities.
4. SAMBA also emphasized how these facilities complete credentialing processes and often also accreditation processes, and that they maintain and report records pertaining to quality measures and adverse events.