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AAO/AAOE and OOSS Team Up To Present ASC Management Issues Sessions at Annual Meeting In Chicago
New This Year! The AAO/AAOE Convention in Chicago is providing OOSS the opportunity to present ophthalmic ASC Management Sessions Issues Sessions exploring the newest challenges and opportunities facing the ophthalmic ASC. These Sessions include:
Powering Success: Operational Efficiencies & Benchmarking – An OOSS/AAOE Initiative for the Ophthalmic ASC (more…)
Lint: Between the Lines of Quality and Efficiency
Lint: Between the Lines of Quality and Efficiency
Kent Jackson Ph.D. OOSS Vice President Member Research & Development
Who would have guessed that lint would be worthy of a benchmarking follow up study? Sandy Robertson RN and Director of the Mississippi Eye Surgery Center guessed right. Prompted by careful review of her facilities OOSS Benchmarking results for 2009 she asked OOSS if it would be possible to query benchmarking participants on this very specific subject. (more…)
OOSS Announces Preferred Software Vendor & Provider for Health IT Solutions
OOSS Announces Preferred Software Vendor & Provider for Health IT Solutions
OOSS is always looking for ways to improve the products and processes that its members use in support of its activities. One area of particular concern at this time driven by the federal stimulus initiatives is the array of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) products that are available to Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs) and to Ophthalmic practices. Insurance carriers are increasingly requiring electronic medical record keeping; yet many EMR systems are designed for hospitals and Multi Specialty Practices and are not user-friendly for the Ophthalmic market. (more…)
Vision Health International (VHI) Recruiting For One-Week Medical Missions In Latin America
Vision Health International (VHI) Recruiting For One-Week Medical Missions In Latin America
Vision Health International (VHI) is currently recruiting ophthalmologists anesthesiologists nurse anesthetists scrub technicians and OR nurses recovery personnel and Spanish translators to volunteer for one-week medical missions in Latin America.
Volunteers will spend one week providing free of charge medical care in eye clinics providing sight-restoring surgery and fitting donated eyeglasses to people without access to eye care. Volunteers provide their own round trip air transportation and pay a participation fee that includes all in-country expenses (lodging meals and local transportation). (more…)
High Performance Benchmarking For Quality Efficiency and Accreditation
High Performance Benchmarking For Quality Efficiency and Accreditation
Kent Jackson Ph.D. OOSS Vice President Member Research & Development
Spring is time to think Ë™Benchmarking”so get ready. Your email invitation to participate in an exclusive ophthalmic ASC Industry Profile Survey and the 2010 OOSS Benchmarking Initiative is on the way. Click kjackson@ooss.org if you have not received your invitation.
OOSS has emerged as the benchmarking leader for ophthalmic ASCs. Our partners at AAO/AAOE and ASCRS/ASOE have asked us develop content for their annual meetings and we are working with AAO/AAOE on a training module specific to the challenges and opportunities of benchmarking. (more…)
OOSS Members Find Benefits With Educational Websites
OOSS Members Find Benefits With Educational Websites
Allergan Access for the ASC
Have you recently visited Allergan Access for the ASC? If not login today to see the dynamic array of tools and resources available to OOSS members.
New Tools
One of the new tools being added to the site is the ASC Feasibility analyzer. While this tool was originally created to assess the feasibility of building a brand new facility managers and owners with surgical facilities have found it useful in performing the following analysis:
- Assessing the financial impact of relocating their current facility.
- Analyzing the financial feasibility of opening an additional ASC.
- Creating break-even analysis for various business scenarios they are evaluating.
The beauty of these Excel spreadsheets is that you can customize them to meet your needs said Robert Nelson PA-C Executive Director of Island Eye Surgicenter. Also if you are not experienced at Excel there are step-by-step instructions so I can easily delegate the input to a staff member. Once again OOSS and the BSM Consulting team have developed another useful tool for the ASC administrator. Bravo.
Resource Library:
A variety of articles glossaries of terms and links to commonly used websites are all part of the resource library. Some surgery center managers considering new business opportunities such as the addition of retina cases to their facility have found the articles and case studies from other centers provide useful information in their decision making process. Materials located in the library can also be helpful when training new staff members.
Staff Training: BSM ConnectionTM for ASC Learning
At a recent seminar one attendee discussed the advantage of distant learning programs she makes available to her staff. I have them all take the same course during the month and we discuss it at our staff meeting. I don’t think they realize the total impact of this as their confidence continues to increase and their customer service has really improved.
One eLearning website that ASC staff members may find beneficial is BSM ConnectionTM for ASC Learning. Through this site staff members can earn continuing education credits while they build their confidence and knowledge in areas critical to their job in the ASC.
OOSS members can assess the ASC Learning website by clicking on the BSM ConnectionTM for ASC Learning icon from the OOSS member page. This will enable them to register staff and as OOSS members or employees of OOSS members ASC Learning students receive a 50% discount off the purchase price of all courses.
Members looking for resources to help them comply with annual training requirements will currently find the following courses on the BSM Connection website:
- OSHA and Bloodborne Pathogens
- HIPAA and Patient Confidentiality
Future courses will include:
- Elder Abuse/Advanced Directives/Domestic Issues/ Patient Rights
- Emergency Protocols and instructions for performing a mock drill
- Fire Safety
MedPAC RECOMMENDS 0.6 PERCENT UPDATE FOR 2011: OOSS AND ASC COMMUNITY TO URGE CMS TO ADOPT HOSPITAL-SIZED INFLATOR
Michael A. Romansky, JD Senior Counsel, OOSS
As we reported in recent Washington Update Onlines, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has recommended that Congress adopt a 0.6 percent inflation update for ASCs in 2011. In the absence of Congressional action ” keep in mind that MedPAC recommendations are frequently ignored ” ASCs will receive an inflation update in 2011 equal to the Consumer Price Update (Urban). If that index were calculated at this moment, our update would be 1.4 percent; however, this number could change over the next ten months. (more…)
CMS TO DROP CATARACT OUTCOMES MEASURE
Michael A. Romansky, JD Washington Counsel, OOSS
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will not finalize an ill-advised cataract outcomes measure that would have required hospital outpatient departments and, ultimately, ASCs, to determine whether a patient scheduled for cataract surgery would achieve a 20 percent improvement in vision, and, if not, disallow the procedure. (more…)
“NOT HIGH ENOUGH!”: OOSS VIGOROUSLY OPPOSES MEDPAC STAFF’S 2011 ASC PAYMENT UPDATE RECOMMENDATION
Michael A. Romansky, JD Washington Counsel, OOSS
In a strongly worded statement to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), OOSS and ASCRS urged Commissioners to ignore their staff’s recommendation for a 0.6 percent ASC payment update in 2011 and instead recommend to Congress that ASCs receive the same increase, 2.7 percent, projected for hospitals. (more…)
HHS ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF STIMULUS FUNDS TO STATES TO REDUCE HEALTHCARE ASSOCIATED INFECTIONS IN SURGERY CENTERS
Michael A. Romansky, JD Washington Counsel, OOSS
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sibelius announced in a November 10 news release that the Department would release up to $9 million to state agencies in 43 states to conduct surveys with the goal of preventing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in ASCs. The funding will come from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and will focus on freestanding ASCs, utilizing an infection control tool developed by CMS in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Approximately 1,300 non-accredited ASCs will be surveyed as part of this initiative during the next 12 months. According to the CDC, “Äúin several ASC-related communicable disease outbreaks, failure to employ very basic infection control practices were implicated, leading CMS to identify this as an area for additional oversight. (more…)
