N.J. Publicizes ASC Inspection Reports

This week, New Jersey's state Department of Health made inspection reports from more than 250 ambulatory surgery centers available online. It's a move toward greater transparency, with the end goal of allowing consumers access to safety reports for everything from single-room physician surgery practices to hospitals.

It's an interesting bone to throw the area's multi-room outpatient surgery centers, which are held accountable to state licensing and inspection by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services – unlike the state's single-room ASCs. The latter are under the purview of the State Board of Medical Examiners, which only conducts inspections in the event of consumer complaints.

Recent legislation that would have required smaller practices to adhere to the same licensing and inspection procedures as larger ASCs was not signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie. Many healthcare professionals are still shocked by the governor's decision.

The main objection that's been portrayed in the media is a tax inconsistency that may have impacted the state's Medicare reimbursements. However, a new version of the legislation is being drafted to address the tax discrepancies between small and larger ASCs. The chairman of the Senate health committee Sen. Joseph F. Vitale is at the helm.

Vitale gave a public nod to  Health Commissioner Mary E. O'Dowd for publicizing the ASC inspection reports online. The information included results from more than three dozen unlicensed, single-room outpatient facilities. When compared with the inspections of multi-room ASCs, the former were of great concern in terms of safety. A more brief analysis of the same information was published by the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute (NJHCQI) last year, giving New Jersey consumers their first glimpse at the alarming data.

The New Jersey health department's ASC Comparison Website allows the public to see inspection reports from the past few years – as well as the ASCs' official correction plans to address any deficiencies.

Many healthcare professionals have publicly lent their support to New Jersey's action – although the real push is to get legislation in place that will hold all outpatient surgical facilities to the same standards. An article in NJSpotlight shares, "There are several different kinds of ASCs: 145 are licensed by state, 143 single-room operating rooms are in the process of registering with the health department, and about 150 are not licensed or registered with the department."

To read more about the situation – including the process whereby the governor vetoed the legislation – check out my editor's letter in our March Benchmarking & Accreditation issue.

Karen Butler (kbutler@vpico.com) is Editor in Chief of SurgiStrategies magazine.