The Health Care Facilities Code identifies provisions for maintaining building systems
BY JONATHAN R. HART | APRIL 2017
Health care facilities, including ASCs, contain many building systems and equipment that are unique compared to other occupancies. Those systems play a vital role in providing care to patients and are a key component in patient outcomes. Even those systems that are not unique to health care can have more importance in facilities that are occupied by the sick, weak or otherwise compromised (i.e., individuals who are sedated or under anesthesia). The continual upkeep of these systems and equipment is essential to providing safe patient care.
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Learn how to implement the revised reporting requirements
BY GINA THRONEBERRY | JUNE-JULY 2018
In 2013, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a proposed rule to improve the tracking of workplace injuries and illnesses through the electronic collection of establishment-specific injury and illness data. After receiving comments on the proposal, OSHA issued the final rule that became effective January 1, 2017 (Occupational Safety and Health Administration 29 CFR Part 1904).
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Learn how to implement the revised reporting requirements
BY GINA THRONEBERRY | NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2017
In 2013, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a proposed rule to improve the tracking of workplace injuries and illnesses through the electronic collection of establishment-specific injury and illness data. After receiving comments on the proposal, OSHA issued the final rule that became effective January 1, 2017 (Occupational Safety and Health Administration 29 CFR Part 1904). For more information on the final rule, click here. Although ASCs are partially exempt from some of the requirements in that rule, they are subject to a requirement that prohibits employers from discouraging workers from reporting an injury or illness.
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Benchmark and use common valuation methodologies
BY TAMI M. BOLDER | JUNE-JULY 2018
Since Medicare approved payments to ASCs in 1982, the number of ASCs has grown substantially. Further, as the number of procedures that can be performed in an outpatient setting has grown, the utilization of outpatient surgery centers has increased in recent years from 50.5 percent of total surgeries in 1990 to 65.9 percent of total surgeries in 2014, according to VMG Health’s “Multispecialty ASC Study Intellimarker 2017.”
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Risks that are uninsurable or prohibitively expensive to insure might call for alternative risk transfer
BY BENJAMIN S. TERNER | SEPTEMBER 2016
In an ever-changing world, it is no secret that risks associated with ASCs also are evolving. Trends in medical risk transfer, however, are generally not related to ordinary risks but rather nontraditional—low frequency/high severity—risks. If these risks occur, they have the ability to bring a practice to a screeching halt. Examples of such risks include: loss or suspension of professional license, legislative and regulatory changes, cyber risk (breach of customer data and detrimental code) and related Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) violations.
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Congress passes site-neutral payment legislation
BY KRISTIN MURPHY | JUNE-JULY 2016
On November 2, 2015, congressional leaders and the Obama administration announced a bipartisan budget agreement that would fund the federal government for two years, raise the nation’s debt ceiling and stave off Medicare premium increases for beneficiaries. The final legislation, called the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, responded to a number approaching fiscal deadlines and leadership changes in the House that could have impacted the ability to strike such a deal.
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Cloud-based technology can help ASCs overcome fragmented case communication issues
BY GAVIN FABIAN | NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2017
Designed to be efficient, ASCs provide a more focused and specialized approach to surgeries without the costly overhead typical in a hospital environment. The result is high-quality care with better patient satisfaction. When it comes to surgical case coordination, however, the natural evolution of technology and communication has created a fragmented mess involving email, text messages, phone calls, white boards and word of mouth.
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Your employees are the most important tool to success
BY JHO OUTLAW | NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2017
We all know every penny counts, but the rapidly changing rules surrounding ASC reimbursement can make revenue cycle management difficult. We can be ready for whatever changes come our way if we have the right tools, anticipate and adapt. When we think “tools,” we generally think software, hardware and medical equipment, but the most important tool for an ASC’s success is something else that is sometimes forgotten. More on that later. Below are a few tips to manage your revenue cycle successfully.
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A look ahead
BY KARA NEWBURY | JUNE-JULY 2018
With the ASC Quality Reporting (ASCQR) Program web-based measure deadline of May 15, 2018, in the rearview mirror, it is time to look ahead to the data that will be reported for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ASCQR Program in 2019 for 2020 payment determinations. It also is a good time to review some of the publicly available data on current measures to determine where ASCs can improve.
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Long wait times for claims reimbursement, however, pose a problem
BY JEFF EVANS | JUNE-JULY 2018
In 2014, the US Congress passed the Veterans’ Access to Care Through Choice Accountability and Transparency Act, commonly referred to as the Choice Act. Precipitated by several health care scandals within the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), this important legislation established the Veterans Choice Program (VCP), which increased veterans’ access to care providers outside of the VA. Since 2014, community care appointments have increased 61 percent overall, according to a 2016 VA report.
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