BY BILL PRENTICE | NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2016
Although January might be a more traditional time to begin forecasting hot topics and new developments that might affect ASCs in the coming year, a number of articles in this edition address emerging issues that will lead surgery centers in important new directions in 2017.
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BY BILL PRENTICE | SEPTEMBER 2016
If you read the email messages that ASCA sends its members each week and follow the news about ASCs, you likely already know that a study released in June shows that ASCs currently reduce private health insurance spending by $38 billion each year. That study also concludes that $5 billion of that savings goes directly to patients through lower deductibles and coinsurance payments.
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BY BILL PRENTICE | AUGUST 2016
In 2016, Medicare released its most comprehensive ASC quality data reports to date. These reports are built on data that ASCs have been submitting to Medicare since 2012. For the first time, the reports provide the public with information on a set of ASC quality measures that, in addition to some key process measures, like the use of a safe surgery checklist, provide data on actual outcomes measures like patient burns, wrongsite surgeries and patient falls.
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BY BILL PRENTICE | JUNE-JULY 2016
With nearly half of 2016 behind us, now is a good time to review some of the innovative projects and outreach efforts that ASCA has been involved with this year.
New HIPAA Workbook for ASCs. To help ASCs comply with all of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) requirements, ASCA provided all of its facility and corporate members with a free HIPAA compliance workbook this spring. This workbook, developed specifically for ASCs, includes an in-depth review of the HIPAA requirements and a comprehensive set of customizable forms and worksheets that you can use to design, evaluate and strengthen your ASC’s compliance program.
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BY BILL PRENTICE | MAY 2016
ASCA has developed a video, “What Is an ASC?,” that explains ASCs in clear and concise terms. We have posted the video on ASCA’s Advancing Surgical Care Campaign web site and on ASCA’s YouTube channel. I encourage you to share the video with your community by directing them to that site or by adding the video to your own web site.
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BY BILL PRENTICE | APRIL 2016
ASCs that renew their ASCA membership for 2016 and ASCs that are joining for the first time this year now have a valuable new resource at their fingertips: the HIPAA Workbook for ASCs. This workbook is designed specifically for ASCs and offers a comprehensive set of tools and information that your ASC can use to comply with all of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) requirements. ASCA is providing this new resource free to all facility and corporate members this year to add value to the rich benefits package we already offer and to support ASCA members in adopting best practices in HIPAA compliance.
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BY BILL PRENTICE | MARCH 2016
March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month and I have good news to share: ASCs in New York City (NYC) took part in a citywide initiative that increased the rate of colorectal cancer screening by colonoscopy in the city from 42 percent to 69 percent between 2003 and 2011. During the same eight-year period, that initiative also helped eliminate racial and ethnic screening disparities among black, white, Hispanic and Asian New Yorkers. Now a new task force has set its sights even higher, and has a strategy to bring NYC’s screening rate up to 80 percent.
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BY BILL PRENTICE | FEBRUARY 2016
ASCA’s annual meeting this year will take place Thursday through Sunday, May 19–22, at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Dallas, Texas. If you haven’t registered already, I encourage you to make plans now to attend.
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BY BILL PRENTICE | JANUARY 2016
New Year’s greetings. I hope all of you had a successful 2015 and are looking forward to the year ahead.
In 2016, ASCA is embarking on a new strategic plan that was developed with your needs and priorities in mind. The ASCA Board and staff will use this plan to guide our activities and the issues that we work on over the next three years on your behalf.
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