Outpatient surgery field fights back after ban from insurance plans

Distressed. Alarming. Shortsighted. Troubling. These words are being used to describe a new trend of employers offering healthcare coverage that excludes outpatient surgery in all settings: hospitals, surgery centers, and surgeons’ offices.

First-of-its-kind perioperative surgical home initiative

Most participants in the perioperative surgical home learning collaborative reported they enhanced clinical quality, controlled costs, and/or improved patient experiences as a result of their initiatives.

Advice on resolving count discrepancies in the OR

When a member of the OR team notices a count discrepancy, that person must speak up, said Amber Wood, MSN, RN, CNOR, CIC, senior perioperative practice specialist at the Association of perioperative Registered Nurses and lead author of a newly updated guideline on retained items.

Shorter surgery check-in saves $11,500 annually

Employees, supervisors, and managers at Seattle Children’s Hospital are constantly on the lookout for work that is no longer useful.

You can improve communication with your surgery staff — Here’s how

“The following sentence is true. The previous sentence is false.” Did you figure it out? Can you? These statements have driven compulsive individuals crazy over the years. It is the “liar’s paradox,” or pseudómenos lógos.

BCBSA study shows how consumers save with shift to outpatient care

A new study by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association demonstrates how much consumers and payers save when medical procedures shift from an inpatient to an outpatient setting.

American Pain Society publishes guideline for post-surgical pain management

The American Pain Society has released a new evidence-based clinical practice guideline, appearing in The Journal of Pain, with 32 recommendations to help clinicians achieve optimal pain management following surgery. According to numerous studies, most surgical patients receive inadequate pain relief, which can heighten the risk for prolonged post-surgical pain, mood disorders, and physical impairment.

Are flexible resident duty hour policies safe for surgery patients?

Allowing residents the flexibility to work longer shifts than allowed in the United States and to take less time off between shifts to provide continuity of patient care is not associated with a greater risk to patients of early serious postoperative complications or death, according to study results involving 117 U.S. general surgery residency programs and 151 hospitals.

High rate of office visits and cumulative costs prior to colonoscopies for colon cancer screening

Kevin R. Riggs, MD, MPH, instructor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, and colleagues analyzed billing data to determine the proportion of colonoscopies for colon cancer screening and polyp surveillance that were preceded by office visits.

Unnecessary blood tests are common prior to low-risk surgery — high variation among facilities

Depending on which facility patients go to for their low-risk surgical procedure, they may be 2.4 times more or less likely to be sent for unnecessary blood tests.