COVER STORY


patient care and that ASCs take rec- ommended steps to ensure patient and staff safety. As always, ASCA is committed to assisting the ASC community and ensuring patient access to the services and benefits ASCs provide. ASCA recently appointed a Safe


Surgery Work Group to provide input to ASCA about the needs of ASCs through the pandemic. The goal is to help you keep your ASC open through- out the pandemic, regardless of twists and turns. As always, this involves the need to educate the public and legisla- tors about the role we play in health- care and the safe practices our facili- ties have in place.


Members of the group include myself; Janie Kinsey, RN, CASC, ASCA Board vice president and administrator of Surgicenter in Kan- sas City, Missouri; Michael Patter- son, RN, ASCA Board president and president and chief executive officer of Mississippi Valley Health in Dav- enport, Iowa; and Annie Sariego, RN, CASC, senior vice president of oper- ations at Physicians Endoscopy in Jamison, Pennsylvania. Our role is to work with other com- mittees within ASCA to share our message. The immediate role of this group is most likely not any different


than your individual goals: ■


Address the primary safety concerns: ■


Demonstrate to patients that ASCs are safe environments for healthcare.


■


Demonstrate to patients and pub- lic health officials that patients do not need to postpone care during the pandemic.


■


Participate with state associations: ■


■


Be aware of regulatory changes/ recommendations and how they may impact ASCs.


Advocate with both legislative and regulatory officials: ■


Ensure health policy staff are aware of impact of regulatory rec- ommendations and changes.


as universal masking and a respi- ratory protection program.


The ASCA COVID-19 Resource Center is available for your help and is consistently being updated. Check this site frequently for articles, pod- casts, recordings and a host of other resources to assist you on a local level. Visit ascassociation.org/covid-19. Please continue to share your sto- ries, questions and concerns with ASCA representatives and keep edu- catinge members of the healthcare community and lay people about the benefits of ASCs.


■ Educate patients Demonstrate the


heightened safety measures: ■


regarding our measures


that


ASCs have implemented to keep their patients and staff safe, such


Debra Stinchcomb, RN, CASC, is a mem- ber of ASCA's COVID-19 Safe Surgery Work Group and a senior consultant with Pro- gressive Surgical Solutions in Incline Village, Nevada. Write her at debra@pss4asc.com.


Take on the Challenge that Is 2021 Do your part to make sure that the ASC community’s voice is heard in the Capitol BY GREGORY HORNER, MD


ASC community, we have had quite a year. It is probably hard to see this through a positive lens, but let us reflect on the good,


the bad and the ugly that was 2020 and contemplate how we can win in 2021. The bad and the ugly are staring us in the face. The COVID-19 chaos has taken us individually from exis- tential economic threats to fundamen- tal changes in the way we do business. Many in the ASC community are still reeling from the shock of COVID-19 and the resulting fear and new regu- lation. For the foreseeable future, we will be focused on “touchless-ness” and disease prevention far beyond our


operating rooms. This will cost money for additional personal protective equipment (PPE), sophisticated ther- mometers and other preventive mea- sures. It will require additional time in our busy schedules to stay on top of the latest recommendations. And of course, we all know, time is money. Our state and federal leaders


and even their medical and eco- nomic experts were caught off guard by the geopolitical and macroeco- nomic magnitude of this crisis. As they attempt to restore the country to whatever the “new normal” will be, one thing is certain, hospitals will be serving a new role in the healthcare ecosystem. The Centers for Medi-


ASC FOCUS JANUARY 2021 | ascfocus.org 19


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