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In April, Aetna will join several other payers, including WellPoint and Humana, that say it isn't medically necessary to have an anesthesia professional present for average-risk individuals undergoing standard upper or lower gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopic procedures.
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The three major gastroenterology associations released a statement in 2004 that said monitored anesthesia care (MAC) is not needed for routine colonoscopy procedures.
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There are times when a freestanding surgery center is not feasible. Some of the more significant reasons include:
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Although mastectomies have been performed in outpatient surgery programs for several years, skepticism about the safety of outpatient mastectomies with immediate reconstruction has kept some physicians from letting patients know about the option, say experts interviewed by Same-Day Surgery.
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Patients with limited arthritis in their knees typically had to live with pain and discomfort or wait until deterioration reached a point at which they could undergo a total knee replacement, but new technology gives patients a third option that allows them to return to normal activity without pain earlier in their lives.
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The Massachusetts Hospital Association recently announced that all Massachusetts hospitals are adopting a uniform policy to not charge patients or insurers for certain serious adverse events, including wrong-site surgeries, as defined by the National Quality Forum (NQF). In doing so, Massachusetts becomes only the second state in the nation to take this voluntary action.
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Increased emphasis on patients at risk for postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), enhanced information on anesthesia for pediatric patients, and focus on post-discharge PONV are three significant changes in the Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia Guidelines for the Management of Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting.
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HealthSouth Corp. and two physicians will pay $14.9 million to settle allegations that the company gave the government false claims and paid illegal kickbacks to physicians who referred patients to its ambulatory surgery centers and hospitals, as well as its outpatient rehabilitation clinics, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
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In many cases, inappropriate phone calls are more obvious to people other than the patient or the manager. For instance, Bonnie Russell, owner of 1st-Pick.com, a public relations agency in Del Mar, CA, says she has had several conversations with surgeon clients while they were operating on patients.
