Same-Day Surgery 2009-02-01

Security breaches, Alert raise question: Are your patient data safe?

Do you assume your patient data are secure? You might want to take a second look. SecureWorks, an Atlanta-based security services provider, is blocking an average of 15,543 attempted hacker attacks a day per health care client, compared to an average of 1,581 attacks per day per bank client.

Do you throw away money on supplies?

(Editor's note: This is the second of a two-part series on saving money. Last month, we covered how to save on equipment and gave information on how adding surgeons results in cost savings. This month, we cover how to save money on supplies and how your staff can help save money.)

Your employees have the inside scoop

Want to save money? Put up a cost savings suggestion box with rewards for employees and, potentially, physicians, advises Roger Pence, president of FWI Healthcare, an Edgarton, OH-based consulting firm primarily for ambulatory health care providers.

Same-Day Surgery Manager: Steps to prepare for a disaster

If you live in the northern states, you need to deal with blizzards, ice, and snow. The southern states generally must address hurricanes, and southern and midwestern states have to be ready for tornadoes. The Gulf states have the hurricanes. California has its fires, floods, earthquakes, landslides, and general mayhem.

Want to know why you lose cases to other facilities?

Would you like to find out why your surgeons are sending cases to other facilities? Increase your caseload? How would you like to achieve both of those goals with one simple form?

Why zero isn't the only sharps safety goal

No more needlesticks. That sounds like a laudable goal that could prevent health care workers from being exposed to deadly diseases. But, in tandem, outpatient surgery managers need to maintain another important message that could actually cause their numbers to rise: Report all needlesticks.

Improving outcomes with a data tool

The National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) began in 1994 in response to concern over the quality of care, specifically operative mortality rates, in VA hospitals. Since then it has expanded to all hospital settings and come under the auspices of the American College of Surgeons (ACS).

SDS Accreditation Update: Here are ways to ensure compliance with The Joint Commission's National Patient Safety Goals

Complying with The Joint Commission's National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) can be a challenge, and managers are developing a variety of approaches to ensure compliance.

SDS Accreditation Update: New competition for TJC: DNV Healthcare

Is it the end of an era for The Joint Commission? Following on the heels of Congress' move to require the organization to reapply for deeming authority for the first time, DNV Healthcare has been granted deeming authority from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

SDS Accreditation Update: AAAHC announces major new standards in '09

The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) has announced its 2009 standards, including a new chapter on lithotripsy services, as well as medical home and behavioral health services.

Same-Day Surgery – February 1, 2009

February 1, 2009