We apologize for any inconvenience but we are rescheduling next week's event due to the inclement weather and power shortages that our ASCs have experienced this week.
A future date is TBD and will be announced when available.
In order to provide members with information and education, even in the midst of a pandemic, the Texas Ambulatory Surgery Center Society (TASCS) has been holding virtual town halls. The latest one took place on Jan. 28 and was about controlled medication logs in ambulatory surgery centers.
It was a focused, brief, yet very informative symposium from two of Texas’ top experts on the topic, Diane Buffington of Surgical Care Affiliates and Chris Dembny of Dembny Pharmacy Consultants LLC.
Austin, Texas-based Pain Specialists of America named Pankaj Mehta, MD, as its chief medical officer, according to a Feb. 2 news release.
Dr. Mehta is a board-certified anesthesiologist who gained national recognition for his contributions to interventional pain medicine, the release said. He is a leader in pain management with a focus on spine pain, headaches, spinal stenosis, abdominal and pelvic pain. He trained at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, both in Boston, before completing a fellowship at Cleveland Clinic.
JAMISON, Pa., Feb. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Five Physicians Endoscopy partner ambulatory surgery centers have received the 2020 National APEX Quality Award. The Endoscopy Center of Niagara, Laredo Digestive Health Center, Long Island Center for Digestive Health, PGC Center for Excellence, and South Broward Endoscopy Center were recognized as the highest performing healthcare facilities within their healthcare peer grouping. Awarded annually by SPH Analytics, recipients of the APEX Quality Award are determined solely by patient satisfaction measures. APEX, traditionally meaning highest point, is defined by SPH Analytics as "Attributes for Patient Excellence".
[Photo by Dave Adamson on Unsplash]
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SUMMARY: The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is amending its regulations to implement a new single-sheet format for DEA Form 222, used by DEA registrants to order schedules I and II controlled substances. The rule provides for a two-year transition period, during which the existing triplicate version of the forms may continue to be used. The rule also includes a number of minor procedural changes.
https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/fed_regs/rules/2019/fr0930.htm
Kim Russell is the chief executive officer of Westlake Hills Surgery Center. She is also an athlete, a four-times world champion gold medalist in racquetball, an animal rescuer, a mother of two girls and a leader in the industry.
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GL 20-2020-A, regarding the extension of emergency rule amendments related to ambulatory surgical center (ASC) services and reporting requirements in response to COVID-19, has been posted. Effective January 21, 2021, the emergency rule amendments are extended for 60 days and temporarily permit licensed ASCs to do the following:
Please read the letter and if you have questions, contact [email protected].
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Texas announces COVID-19 vaccine allocation for week of Jan. 25
The state of Texas will receive 332,750 first doses of COVID-19 vaccine from the federal government next week. The Texas Department of State Health Services has instructed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to ship those doses to 212 providers across Texas. That includes 82 hub providers that will focus on larger community vaccination efforts and 130 additional providers as Texas continues to vaccinate health care workers, residents of long-term care facilities, people 65 and older and those with medical conditions that put them at greater risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19.
Let us know! We appreciate your participation in our membership polls. Answer this quick question below.
https://www.texasascsociety.org/are-you-asking-patients-if-they-have-had-the-covid-19-vaccine
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As we move into the new outpatient/ambulatory payment year still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, navigating payment rules across sites of care and ensuring that pharmacy is in sync with their organization’s overall strategies are essential. Themes finalized in the rule sets are: embrace patient centricity, continue to simplify (electronic health record requirements and reporting, regulations), cut costs and save money, and not lose focus on pharmacy’s efforts to combat the opioid crisis.
2021 OPPS Effects
It’s Day 2 of the J.P. Morgan Annual Healthcare Conference at its finest – looking closely at healthcare inequities, strategic business shifts and killer robots, all in the same day! (Yes, we did say killer robots and it’s your reward for reading all the way to the end of this article).
We have moved from last year’s significant emphasis at the JPM Conference on social determinants of health (SDOH) initiatives to a broader discussion of healthcare equity, social justice, diversity and anti-racism, as voiced by many health plans and health systems. Stephen Klasko, Chief Executive Officer of Jefferson Health, said that, “Health disparities are the #1 public health crisis in our nation.” As many noted at the Conference, the COVID-19 crisis is clear evidence that minority and economically disadvantaged communities are medically underserved and bear a higher burden of illness than their more affluent neighbors. Many of the healthcare companies presenting at the Conference expressed their commitment to work to improve those inequities. We look forward to what we will see at next year’s JPM Conference. It also was refreshing to see women Chief Executive Officers presenting at the Conference for leading healthcare companies, like Karen Lynch, the incoming Chief Executive Officer of CVS Health. Kudos for this year’s markedly increased presence on the podium of women in leadership – CEO’s, CFO’s and CSO’s, among others.
On December 27, 2020, the Consolidated Appropriations Act modified the Calendar Year (CY) 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS), providing a 3.75 percent increase in MPFS payments. CMS recalculated Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) rates for office-based covered surgical procedures and certain covered ancillary radiology services and diagnostic tests, as well as the budget neutrality adjustment applied to all ASC procedure payment rates.
