Tips from ASC administrators to prep for Medicare inspections

At the recent 20th Annual Ambulatory Surgery Centers Conference in Chicago, three ambulatory surgery center administrators discussed preparing their centers for surveyors and Medicare inspections, according to an article on the Becker's ASC Review website. 

Marti Potter, administrator with Jersey Shore Ambulatory Surgery Center in Somers Point, N.J., Marcy Sasso, director of compliance and development with Facility Development and Management in Orangeburg, N.Y., and Regina Robinson, administrator of the Toledo (Ohio) Clinic — Outpatient Surgery participated in the roundtable took part in the discussion, moderated by Melissa Szabad of McGuireWoods. 

Szabad: Can you share some of your experiences with surveyors? 

Potter: I find folks from the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care are [more] likely to act collegially than those who come from the state. The AAAHC is much more amenable. For the most part, they'll give you the opportunity to make a correction. 

Sasso: [This is] the way I look at CMS [inspections]: There is black and white but not as much gray. For recertification, they look at you differently. They are definitely going to hold you a little more accountable. You better not have any repeat outstandings. 

Robinson: For one survey, I had three surveyors [at the ASC] for three days. Fortunately they found small things. At the end, I said, "Did we do anything right?" And the surveyor said, "Oh, you did a lot of things right. We just don't talk about that. CMS is a negative survey." Their job is only to find things that are wrong. 

Read the article.