Here are seven updates for ASC leaders to know for March 29, 2018.
Maine Medical Center seeks board approval for $512M expansion, including ASC
Portland-based Maine Medical Center received board approval March 27 to launch an expansion project this spring. The five-year expansion plan includes a new surgery center.
Erlanger Health System denied CON to build surgery center
Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Erlanger Health System's request to build a surgery center in Ringgold, Ga., was denied by the Georgia Department of Community Health. Erlanger sought to build a $9.8 million surgery center next to its family medicine practice, but state reviewers said there was no numerical need for the project.
Dental-only ASC to open in North Carolina
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services issued Fayetteville, N.C.-based Valleygate Dental Surgery Center a certificate of need March 1, clearing the group to open its new center in Greensboro, N.C., June 1.
Drugmaker paid roughly $550K to lobby for ASC, outpatient reimbursement status
A provision in the spending bill President Donald Trump signed March 23 restores the expired reimbursement status of Omidria, the flagship product of Omeros, for two years. The drugmaker paid two firms about $275,000 each to lobby lawmakers on reimbursement policies.
Tennessee hospital purchases 3 acres for expansion
Nashville, Tenn.-based Saint Thomas Health purchased three acres of land in Murfreesboro, Tenn., to facilitate an outpatient expansion. It plans to construct a 13,000-square-foot surgery center.
Readers push back on 'sensationalized' story misrepresenting ASC safety
Kaiser Health News published three rebukes to a joint report with USA Today that has been met with the scorn of the ASC industry for not providing needed context. The rebukes came from Chicago-based anesthesiologist and journalist James Lozada, MD; Ambulatory Surgery Center Association CEO William Prentice; and New York City-based Montefiore Hutchinson Campus' Medical Director Curtis Choice, MD.
California ASC, hospitals battle opioid shortage
Nationwide manufacturing issues have shrunk the supply of liquid forms of morphine, fentanyl and Dilaudid, which are injected to control acute pain after surgery. Several groups — including the American Society of Anesthesiologists — wrote to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials in February, asking them to reduce opioid production regulatory limits.