Making Infection Control Central to an ASC's Operations

In my parallel life, I also edit one of our company’s sister publications, Infection Control Today (ICT) magazine, so as you can imagine, infection prevention in all healthcare environments is dear to my heart. I have been following closely the new conditions for coverage (CfCs) issued last year by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) addressing infection control in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), and the sense of panic that these CfCs have triggered. ASCs have traditionally enjoyed a very low infection rate, but some rather high-profile infectious outbreaks at outpatient facilities prompted a greater investigation by the government into the state of infection control at surgery centers and a few bad apples have forced a new regime. But perhaps that’s a very good thing in disguise. It’s true that human nature being what it is, people don’t always do what they are supposed to do, and so rules are made to enforce mandatory compliance. It’s always a shame when doing the right thing must be legislated instead of met voluntarily, but the bright spot in the new CfCs relating to infection control is the hope for even better patient outcomes — a distinct hallmark of the ASC industry in the first place.

In this issue you’ll meet Bruce Wallace and Anthony Pings, two people who have made infection control the focus of every decision they have made in the design and development of Renaissance Surgical Arts at Newport Harbor, LLC, a brand new multi-specialty ASC that will surely be a destination for healthcare in the Orange County, California region. Central to the center’s long list of innovations is the numerous concessions made to making infection control an imperative, from the multi-chamber sterile and substerile areas in between the operating rooms, to the extensively automated surgical device and instrument sterilization systems, to the use of touchless scrub sinks and surfaces impervious to bacteria.

And please don’t forget to participate in our fourth annual ICT virtual Conference on Professional Development, which will provide exceptional guidance on many facets of infection prevention strategies you can adopt for use in your ASC or surgical hospital. To register for the event, to be held Feb. 9-10, 2010, visit www.ictconference.com.