At the 18th Annual Ambulatory Surgery Centers Conference in Chicago on Oct. 28, Edward Glinski, DO, of the Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program, gave a presentation on the key issues facing ophthalmology in ASCs. The presentation focused on regulatory and compliance issues, focusing on accreditation standards and compliance to state, federal and municipal standards. Some of the most important focal points include:
• Environmental standards
• Medical records
• Infection control
• Governance
• Human resources
• Medical and allied health credentialing
"For quality assessment programs, it comes down to three principle points: development, implementation and maintenance," said Dr. Glinski. "It's difficult to separate each of these points."
ASC administrators should determine the roll of medical staff in quality assessment and performance improvement. After a quality assessment is conducted, surveyors hope to see tweaking of the policies to improve the level of care. There are several benchmarks ASCs can track, including:
• Patient complaints
• Staff complaints
• Compliance program variances
• Privileges linked to procedure counts
• CME linked to new procedure requests
• Medical records review
• Patient satisfaction
Once the assessments are made, share the results with the board of trustees as well as the staff members. "Compliance to regulatory agencies is good for the patient, good for the ASC and good for the staff and physician investors," said Dr. Glinski. "It's also a place where you should be having some fun. I've had a great time for 27 years and it's been fun."
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• Environmental standards
• Medical records
• Infection control
• Governance
• Human resources
• Medical and allied health credentialing
"For quality assessment programs, it comes down to three principle points: development, implementation and maintenance," said Dr. Glinski. "It's difficult to separate each of these points."
ASC administrators should determine the roll of medical staff in quality assessment and performance improvement. After a quality assessment is conducted, surveyors hope to see tweaking of the policies to improve the level of care. There are several benchmarks ASCs can track, including:
• Patient complaints
• Staff complaints
• Compliance program variances
• Privileges linked to procedure counts
• CME linked to new procedure requests
• Medical records review
• Patient satisfaction
Once the assessments are made, share the results with the board of trustees as well as the staff members. "Compliance to regulatory agencies is good for the patient, good for the ASC and good for the staff and physician investors," said Dr. Glinski. "It's also a place where you should be having some fun. I've had a great time for 27 years and it's been fun."
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