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Tipping Points: ASC Quality and Profitability
The concept of a “tipping point” is very old; this rhyme, published in about 1390 and later popularized by Benjamin Franklin, shows at least a military appreciation of tipping points. In more recent days, tipping point theory has been applied in physics, urban sociology, epidemic epidemiology, and more recently in popular culture and management theory.2 Tipping point theory owes much ...(More)
1/15/2008
Patient Monitoring Options Plentiful
Patient monitoring devices are vital to many settings, including outpatient care, because they help to reduce complications and increase patient comfort.Patient monitoring devices that diagnose and track critical dyshemoglobin levels, such as carboxyhemoglobin and methemoglobin, as well as a patient’s peripheral perfusion and level of hydration before, during, and after surgery, are particularly useful for surgery centers, says Dan Draper, ...(More)
1/15/2008
Throwing the Book at the U.S. Healthcare System
There is the kind of book that sits on your shelf gathering dust, and then there are the books that get dog-eared, underlined and utterly abused because they are used and referred to so frequently. Two such books crossed my desk recently, and I’d like to share them with you. The first, “Who Killed Healthcare? America’s $2 Trillion Medical Problem ...(More)
1/15/2008
NEWS
PHA Launches National Campaign to Protect Physician OwnershipPhysician Hospitals of America (PHA), the national association representing the interests of the physician hospital industry, is appealing to the public to help stop the threatened shut down of America’s physician-owned hospitals.The appeal comes in a series of advertisements released throughout the states and in national media that were prompted by threatened action ...(More)
1/15/2008
ASCs Have a Higher Profile in the OIG’s 2008 Work Plan
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has published its 2008 work plan, and ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) are the focus of several initiatives in the coming year. Foremost, the revised payment system for ASCs will be under scrutiny.The new payment system expands by 750 procedures the number eligible for Medicare payment when performed in an ASC. It also sets ...(More)
1/15/2008
Physician Owners Sue Insurance Companies
Several leaders of physician-owned surgery centers and surgical hospitals think they’ve been mistreated by mainstream hospitals and managed care organizations (MCOs), and some have filed suit. Only one case, however, is scheduled for trial, and that suit may determine whether physician-owners pursue litigation in the future, says Patrick Stueve, a lawyer who is trying the case. The outcome may also influence ...(More)
1/15/2008
N.J. Ruling: A Dilemma For All ASCs
On November 20, 2007, in the case of Health Net of New Jersey, Inc. v. Wayne Surgical Center, LLC, a New Jersey court ruled that physicians who refer their patients to an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) in which they have an ownership interest, violate the Codey Act’s ban against self-referrals.The case involved surgeons who referred their patients to a physician-owned ...(More)
1/15/2008
Who’s Who in the Ambulatory Surgery Industry: The Facilities
For four years, we have provided this special “Who’s Who” section to focus on noteworthy ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) within the United States. Each year, we see a different focus. Some years have featured centers successfully holding their own among competitors; other years, we have seen conversions from ASCs to specialty surgical hospitals. This year, we focus on quality — ...(More)
1/9/2008
Who’s Who in the Ambulatory Surgery Industry: The People
Welcome to our fifth annual Who’s Who in the Ambulatory Surgery Industry. We asked our readers and members of the industry to nominate outstanding individuals who serve the outpatient healthcare community, and the facilities that shine. The dynamic caliber of these candidates is what makes this industry all that it has become. So, in light of the challenges the ambulatory ...(More)
1/9/2008
Remembering a Lesson from Civics Class
If you are a member of Generation X like I am, or a Baby Boomer, you may remember sitting through endless civics classes in high school. That’s where you learned about how government worked, or at least how it should work, with a government “of the people, by the people, for the people,” as Abraham Lincoln expressed in his Gettysburg ...(More)
1/2/2008
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