COVER STORY
have a committee comprising a phy- sician, anesthesia provider, surgical technician, front desk clerk, nurse director who also serves as the secu- rity officer and me as the adminis- trator. We study and make sure we understand the requirements. We per- form periodic walk-throughs of our ASCs to assess their compliance and identify areas of opportunity. During these rounds, we involve staff to help them understand the regulations and their importance.”
Jimenez says she takes it upon herself to learn about the LSC. “I try to attend different seminars and courses that address LSC, study the code and rely on an expert to help me navigate the LSC.” Lyman advises ASCs to imple-
ment a systematic process that helps ensure they
maintain compliance.
What I feel warrants the most attention is making sure you really understand the LSC. Trying to figure out when you are in compliance and when you are not is stressful.”
— Angie Jimenez Vista Ophthalmic Ambulatory Center
“There are many requirements, and facility administrators and manag- ers can feel overwhelmed. I recom- mend a calendar-based process that allocates the appropriate time each week and month to the various areas of the LSC.” You don’t want to over-
look LSC and then suddenly find it is time for a survey and your ASC is unprepared. ASCs would be wise to make the life safety process a quality assur- ance performance initiative, Phillips says. “Whatever ASCs plan to do for compliance, whether they use an outside contractor, hire a life safety compliance professional company or handle it all themselves, it is no longer acceptable to make life safety compliance a forgotten task that only receives attention at the time of inspection.” LSC compliance must be a continuous quality improvement process that requires staff participa- tion. Staff must engage in the deliv- ery and management of life safety operational requirements for the sur- gery center or this will become a reg- ulatory issue, he adds.
18 ASC FOCUS OCTOBER 2018 |
www.ascfocus.org
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