A Guide to Ambulatory Surgery Center Accreditation
Are you planning to start an ambulatory surgery center? Are you already a part of an organization? Maybe you are just wondering how to achieve status that will bring patients to the door and keep them coming?
Accreditation is essential for any outpatient surgery center for many reasons. When a patient walks into an ASC and sees the accreditation certificate hanging on the wall, it immediately confers a sense of reliability in the center.
Plus patients feel like they're in safe hands. Accreditation shows your committed to providing high-quality health care.
What is an Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC)?
Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are modern healthcare facilities that provide same-day surgical care. This can include both diagnostic and preventive procedures.
The value of these facilities is in providing patients with a more convenient alternative to hospital-based outpatient procedures. As a result, ASCs have made the outpatient experience accessible to millions more.
Improvements in anesthesia and surgical techniques have allowed ASCs to develop a track record of high-quality care and outcomes. Hence, procedures that once required a hospital stay are now safely performed on an outpatient basis. .
Thus, a patient can leave the facility the same day they had their surgery and recover in the comfort of their homes. By extension, this lowers the cost of procedures for patients and insurers alike
Examples of procedures performed in ASCs are:
- Eye surgeries
- Colonoscopies
- Endoscopies
- Spinal & Joint Procedures, etc.
Additionally, the doctors and nurses who work in ASCs have the same education and training as those in the hospital. Like hospitals, ASCs are regulated by state and federal government laws.
Why do ASCs Seek Accreditation?
In the United States, ASCs are required by law to receive accreditation to operate and offer medical services.
Organizations offering these services and conduction the investigations include:
- The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC),
- The American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities (AAAASF),
- The Accreditation Commission for Health Care (AHCH),
- and The Joint Commission (JCAHO).
In addition, Accreditation gives ASCs a mark of quality. This mark signals to patients that they can put their minds at ease when they walk into your facility. Accreditation assures that the facility offers them the highest standard of care possible.
The Biggest Medical Accreditation Organizations
Most ambulatory surgery centers provide care to Medicare patients. As such, they must meet Medicare standards to operate. Additionally, every state requires that ASCs meet specific requirements to receive a license.
Finally, the requirements may vary state-to-state, so a representative of the accrediting body must inspect the facility. This process verifies that the facility meets established standards.
The following bodies are responsible for ambulatory surgery center accreditation:
The American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities
The American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities, Inc. (AAAASF) develops and implements standards of excellence that facilities are obligated to uphold.
The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care
The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC), also known as the Accreditation Association, formed in 1979. They develop standards for advancing and promoting patient safety, quality and value for ambulatory health care. They do these through peer-based accreditation processes, education and research.
The Accreditation Commission for Health Care
The ACHC is internationally recognized as the premier accreditation organization. With over 30 years of experience in accrediting outpatient care facilities, they offer a collaborative survey approach. They also design relevant standards that help ASCs enhance patient care.
The Joint Commission
The Joint Commission accredits and certifies over 19,000 health care facilities and programs in the United States. Their accreditation and certification are recognized as a universal symbol of quality.
Benefits of Ambulatory Surgery Care Accreditation
While accreditation improves a facility's standing with patients, there are several other benefits.
Among these are:
- Validating your performance and processes
- Minimizing risk areas (e.g., liability insurance) for your clients, staff and brand;
- Helping you leverage a vetted framework for growing and expanding your services;
- Helping you to improve the quality of care you provide your patients;
- Helping you to improve efficiency and emergency processes;
- The opportunity to receive shared policies, procedures, and best practices;
- Obtain insights and transparency through external review. Peer reviewers bring an objective external perspective to your organization’s operations.
- Maintaining accreditation presents a clear picture of how to improve your organization.
Important Factors For Receiving Accreditation
One area of extreme importance in accrediting an ambulatory surgery center is a backup power source. Backup power systems are non-negotiable for ASCs. This is because they are required to support the ASCs’ cold storage or operating room needs.
Why Do I Need Backup Power for My Healthcare Facility?
Once the power goes out, the clock starts and temperatures begin to rise.
Battery backup systems offer instant and automatic power for both medical equipment and laboratory appliances alike. As a result, no staff needs to be on-site to keep track of or start the generator, plus, valuable samples and inventory will remain safe—with no extra work required. This makes them an ideal solution for a vaccine coordinator looking to ensure inventory remains safe.
Additionally, their vertical, cabinet-like form factor and leak-proof batteries mean they can be installed in even the tightest spaces and oriented in anyway to make them fit. Meaning now matter how crowded your vaccine or sample room is, you can ensure you'll be protected.
Plus, if your lab or storage room is truly tight on space, a hardwired backup power unit can instantly supply remote power to your appliance—directly via the outlet its already plugged into
.
Regardless of what kind of system is the best fit, they ensure that your entire stock of biomedical and chemical samples are protected from a sudden loss of power (and the resulting temperature fluctuations) by guaranteeing a seamless transition from utility power to backup power.
And for Facilities who perform outpatient operations, battery power instantly engages, keeping your operations going with zero downtime due to their advanced battery technology.
Even better, is that battery generators can be outfitted with as much power as you want. So system’s can be designed with enough power to protect a facility’s inventory:
- Overnight
- All day
- Over a weekend
- Or even for a whole week.
So, to protect your facility from tens of thousands of dollars in lost inventory speak to a Medi-Products battery backup expert.
They’ll help design you a system that both meets your power needs and will fit inside your facility—for a much lower cost than what your vaccines are worth. So a backup power system pays for itself the first time your power goes out.
Designing a system for you is as easy as taking a picture of your appliance’s nameplate, and a photo of the room where it’s in.
Then, you just email both photos to our Product experts, and we’ll provide you with multiple options for backup power protection.
For more information contact: 1.800.7653237
