Surveyors from the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care and the American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities weighed in on the key things they look for when conducting an ASC accreditation survey in the latest issue of The Ophthalmic ASC.
The key details to know:
1. Credentialing and privileging. Often looked over, privileging is a peer-review process conducted by an ASC's governing board that ensure all providers at the ASC are qualified to provide healthcare services. During a survey, surveyors will check records to evaluate whether all providers have had their credentials verified.
2. Documentation management. Surveyors look for written documentation to verify ASCs are meeting requirements. Using an accreditation body's standard manual to determine how documentation is organized to meet the documentation management requirement.
3. Life safety and emergency management. Building safety requirements are just as important as clinical safety. Having adequate exit light placements, firewalls and testing power generators are common examples of overlooked building safety requirements.