ASCs are tackling women's healthcare disparities nationwide. Below are three examples of these efforts from different states:
Arizona
North Valley Surgery Center in Scottsdale, Ariz., is launching a colon cancer screening program for women led by North Valley gastroenterologist Deepa Shah, MD. Once Dr. Shah and fellow physicians learned that women were less likely to receive a colonoscopy if they couldn't choose their physician's gender, they came up with a solution.
"Our team consists of a multidisciplinary, exclusively female group of endoscopists, anesthesia providers, nurses, and all other caregivers from registration to discharge. All patients have the option of choosing the endoscopist's gender on scheduling, and female patients are given the options of an all-female team of caregivers," Dr. Shah said in a news release.
Florida
Lee Health is opening a women's cardiac surgery center at Shipley Cardiothoracic Center in Fort Myers, Fla.
"Nationally, women with coronary artery disease suffer from delayed diagnosis, referral bias secondary to intervention criteria based on predominantly male research (women are less likely to be included in clinical trials), gender roles that interfere with access and more acute presentations due to increased co-morbidities and often emergent presentations," Cathy Murtagh-Schaffer, Shipley Cardiothoracic Center physician assistant, told Naples Daily News.
The Women’s Cardiac Surgery Center aims to mitigate these disparities and help women get the care they need.
New York
NYU Langone Health has opened a new outpatient center with services catering to women's health. NYU Langone Ambulatory Care Center in New York City provides gynecologic, obstetric and wellness care, as well as surgical procedures.
"This new, state-of-the-art facility gives us [the] opportunity to dramatically expand our scope of services within gynecology and obstetrics and enhance care for patients with a full range of specialty services," said Dana Gossett, MD, Stanley H. Kaplan professor and chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, in a Feb. 17 news release. "A true one-stop shop for women's health in a convenient new location, we're committed to providing the highest level of integrated, quality care that NYU Langone is known for across the region."