HCPro.com: Ambulatory Quality and Compliance Insider

Whether you're complying with The Joint Commission's National Patient Safety Goals, meeting CMS requirements, or overcoming AAAHC survey challenges, maintaining highquality patient care is no small task. Every issue of Ambulatory Quality and Compliance Insider is packed with field-tested compliance tips you can implement right away and how-to advice from ambulatory experts across the country.

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April 2008 (Volume 8, Issue 4)	view entire issue

AAAHC places greater emphasis on peer review
The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) is working to clarify existing standards language regarding the peer review process. Clarification of existing peer review standards in the newly published 2008 handbook may result in increased organizational achievements in patient safety and quality improvement. "We're looking for organizations to close the loop," says Marsha Wallander, RN, AAAHC's assistant director of accreditation services.

New program rewards patient-centered care
A new medical home program launched by Bridges to Excellence (BTE) will offer bonuses of up to $100,000 per year to physicians who reengineer their practices to provide high-quality, patient-centered care. "What we're looking for is the transformation of the practice and the transformation of the culture of the practice from being reactive to being proactive," says Francois de Brantes, CEO of BTE. "And that means being very focused on the patient and the management of that patient."

Good retention helps ASC pass AAAHC survey
Armed with a happy staff and resources from the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC), Deerpath Orthopedic Surgical Center in Morris, IL, had a smooth ride through the AAAHC's unannounced accreditation survey. To pass the survey with ease, keep your AAAHC Self-Assessment Manual close and your staff members closer, says Don Raymer, RN, Deerpath's manager. Raymer, who is new to the AAAHC accreditation process, came from a hospital setting and joined the ambulatory surgery center (ASC) in February 2007.

Preaccreditation jitters: Is your ASC infected?
Preaccreditation jitters (PAJ) occur on a regular basis in ambulatory surgery centers (ASC) throughout America. Most administrative personnel anticipate the onset of PAJ months in advance of their survey. PAJ can have a devastating effect on workplace stress, staff morale, employee health, and productivity. Although the folks in IT departments have no trouble understanding the classic GIGO formula-garbage in, garbage out-the risk management committees, administrators, and physicians doing the peer review seem to suffer from an occupational blind spot.

Managing significant event data to make improvements
Editor's note: What is a realistic goal for the collection and best use of data at your organization? In the following book excerpt, Ken Rohde explains how to better manage your exception data (also known as problem data) and, in particular, your significant event data. Such data can cover many areas, such as patient falls, treatment problems, and security issues. This excerpt is adapted from Rohde's new book, Making Your Data Work: Tools and Templates for Effective Analysis, published by HCPro. Rohde is a senior consultant for The Greeley Company, a division of HCPro, in Marblehead, MA.

Other recently-published articles from Ambulatory Quality and Compliance Insider:

Proposed changes would make doctors mark the site

How to comply with critical-result reporting requirements

Medication reconciliation challenges, confuses ASCs

Avoid these pitfalls when survey time comes around

Prevention, not punishment, key to patient safety

Nine healthcare professionals detail challenges

Ambulatory surgery center strides through seamless survey

Strategies for mastering the basics of benchmarking

How to protect sleep apnea patients from complications

AAAHC studies offer best-practice strategies

Keep surgery center survey preparation simple

Preserving evidence is essential for effective RCAs

Unsafe practice may cause infected medication vials

Managing significant event data to make improvements

Preaccreditation jitters: Is your ASC infected?

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