The Leapfrog Group's 2020 ASC and outpatient survey didn't sit well with administrators, who told Becker's ASC Review that they found its conclusions "disheartening" and off-base. Now, the healthcare safety ratings company has revealed proposed changes for 2021.
What you should know:
1. Leapfrog is proposing updates to survey questions and new measures for inclusion based on feedback from participating ASCs, an analysis of responses to the inaugural survey and recommendations from researchers and an expert panel (the representativeness of which was criticized by Ambulatory Surgery Center Association CEO William Prentice).
2. The 2021 survey will open April 1. Because of the pandemic, Leapfrog plans to allow ASCs submitting surveys by Sept. 1, 2021, to report data from either calendar year 2019 or calendar year 2020.
3. Leapfrog's proposed additions include two optional sets of questions on ASC billing practices; a section on facility and surgeon volume; and sections on total hip and knee replacement volumes and surgeon privileges.
4. Questions about antimicrobial stewardship will be removed from the 2021 ASC survey. Participants in the 2020 survey complained that these kinds of questions should be omitted because antimicrobial stewardship requirements do not apply to ASCs, which use significantly fewer antibiotics than hospitals.
5. Notably, there are no proposed changes to questions about Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support-trained and Pediatric Advanced Life Support-trained clinicians, nor does Leapfrog intend to change questions on collection of patient-reported data through The Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgery Survey, which isn't required of ASCs at the federal level.
6. Comments on proposed changes to the 2021 Leapfrog ASC Survey will be accepted through Dec. 18. Click here to view the full proposal.
