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Proposed bill would assess problems with office-based surgery

Ambulatory Surgery Reimbursement Update, April 26, 2005

A proposed bill in Nevada may be the first step toward ensuring that office-based procedures are as safe as surgery performed in accredited ASCs.

This is the long-term goal of Assemblywoman Susan Gerhardt, whose proposed bill would assess office-based surgery problems by essentially requiring physicians to report problems occurring during procedures to the state Board of Medical Examiners or state Board of Osteopathic Medicine, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The bill would also require the reporting of the kind and number of office surgeries using conscious sedation, deep sedation, or general anesthesia.

Gerhardt cited a 2003 study in the 'Archives of Surgery' that found patients, over a two-year span, were 10 times more likely to die or be injured during office-based procedures than in ASCs.

While twenty-two states already have standards to help regulate office-based surgery, Nevada is not one of them, according to the Review-Journal.

To learn more about the bill, click here.

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