A proposal in California that would have expanded the scope of practice for optometrists in the state was passed by the state legislature, but Gov. Gavin Newsom effectively vetoed the bill by failing to sign it before it expired on Sept. 30....

When Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law last year a measure that required hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers to eliminate surgical smoke, it was a big win for the nurses...

Interventional radiology (IR) is slowly finding its way into ASCs. IR physicians perform a wide variety of “pinhole surgeries” — minimally invasive procedures that leverage catheters, wires, needles and sheaths — using image guidance...

As the current U.S. inflation rate approaches 10%, ambulatory surgery centers are already facing financial pressure from expenses for goods and services and staffing costs. So while CMS has proposed an increase...

The state-of-the-art Shields Surgery Center opened last summer in Medford, Mass., four years after its developers devised a proof of concept. “Looking back, it’s hard to believe...

The importance of same-day outpatient cardiology was on full display in 2020 — during the worst months of the pandemic — and I was fortunate enough to be in the thick...

Surgical facilities across the country are in a holding pattern as court injunctions have temporarily blocked federal COVID-19 vaccination mandates for about half of the...

Three federal judges have temporarily blocked CMS’ proposed COVID-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers that was set to take effect on Jan. 4, making an already murky situation for surgical professionals...

The 2022 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System and ASC Payment System proposed by CMS is filled with changes that are more curious than cause for serious concern. CMS, which ultimately intends to slow...

The catherization lab built in the new Quincy Medical Group (QMG) Surgery Center is the first of its kind in Illinois and showcases the tantalizing potential of outpatient...

The FDA announced earlier this year it was investigating the cause of 450 infections in patients who had undergone procedures involving urological endoscopes. The cases, ...

Brenda Ulmer, MN, RN, CNOR, and Angela Hohn, RN, BSN, BS, CNOR, have accomplished so much together that it’s almost impossible to believe that the two...

Throughout my career as a perioperative director and surgery center administrator, I've developed information packets that inform my teams about what accreditation surveyors might look for and ask about. I eventually thought...

Early this year, one of the first total hip replacements paid for by Medicare was performed on a woman in her late 80s at our outpatient surgery center. This was only possible because the Centers for Medicare...

OMS's Outpatient Prospective Payment System and Ambulatory Surgical Center final rule, which took effect on Jan. 1, substantially blurs the lines between inpatient and outpatient surgical care, as well as...

However wonderful it might (or might not) be for healthcare pricing to be transparent, what does it matter if you have no clear understanding of related costing and other...

Legal Update: Surgical Hospitals Stripped of Hospital Status; Medicare targeting facilities that don't keep enough patients overnight.

Can technology help gather data for CMS quality reporting and benchmarking?

Duodenoscope with disposable distal cap said to be easier to reprocess. The FDA says the disposable cap will improve access for cleaning and reprocessing.

Legal update: Are you hip to HIPAA? Ignorance is no defense when it comes to protected health information.