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Interesting things going on out there, aren't they? Town meeting riots, "death panels," trillion-dollar budgets, "evil businesses." As a clinician, a business owner, and a health care consumer (I broke my foot skydiving a few weeks ago), I've got to tell you: I am OK with the system as it is . . . almost.
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Inpatient surgery is on the fifth floor. L&D is on the third floor. The GI center is near the ED in the first floor. The outpatient surgery center is on two. The lithotripsy is in a trailer in the parking lot.
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The clear conclusion of a recently published study is preoperative cleansing of the patient's skin with chlorhexidine-alcohol is hands-down better to cleansing with povidone-iodine for preventing surgical-site infection after clean-contaminated surgery.1 Now it gets interesting.
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When Mendocino Coast Hospital in Fort Bragg, CA, recently underwent its accreditation survey by The Joint Commission, the biggest surprise was the scrutiny on and large amount of time spent in the operating room in the surgery area vs. the nurses' floor, says Susan Bivins, RN, the director of quality and risk management.
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Rhode Island Hospital, the teaching hospital for Brown University's Alpert Medical School in Providence, is facing unprecedented sanctions from the state health department after its fifth wrong-site surgery since 2007.
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The ICD-10-CM code set is scheduled to replace ICD-9-CM, the current U.S. diagnostic code set, on Oct. 1, 2013. While that date is in the far future, you should prepare now, coding experts warn.
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Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) undergoing Medicare accreditation surveys under the new Conditions for Coverage (CfCs) that took effect in May 2009, are reporting that the surveys are longer than in the past, have more surveyors, and put a much stronger emphasis on infection control.
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Patients experience fewer postoperative complications when a surgical safety checklist is used by their surgical team, reports the first large-scale review on the subject published in the June issue of Anesthesiology. By following a simple checklist, healthcare providers can minimize the most common postoperative risks such as wound infection and blood loss.
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A surgery center increased its collections 47% from a four-month period in 2012 to the same period in 2013 by collecting copays and deductibles up front. Less than 1% of patients have cancelled.
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A study in the July issue of Anesthesiology revealed that patients who receive a simple, multicolor, standardized medication instruction sheet before surgery are more likely to comply with their physicians instructions and experience a significantly shorter postop stay in recovery.
