The Leapfrog Group released the results of its inaugural ASC quality survey, as well as findings on hospital outpatient departments from its expanded hospital survey.
Through the two nationwide surveys, Leapfrog collected responses from 321 ASCs and 1,141 HOPDs that submitted information by Aug. 31. Leapfrog will be accepting late submissions from ASCs and HOPDs through Nov. 30. Once Leapfrog collects several years of data, the organization will report facility-level performance data for ASCs and HOPDs.
Here are four insights from the quality surveys:
1. Concerning ASC ownership makeup:
- 38 percent of respondents owned a joint venture center between physician and management company
- 29 percent of respondents owned a center independent or with several physician owners
- 18 percent of respondents owned a joint venture center between a physician and a hospital
- 8 percent of respondents owned owned a three-way joint venture center with a physician, a management company and a health system partner
- 7 percent were categorized as another type of owner
2. ASCs and HOPDs had room for improvement with regards to ensuring medical, surgical and clinical staff members had appropriate education, training and certifications. While nearly all facilities in both the ASC and HOPD categories had an advanced cardiovascular life support-certified staff member present for adult patients, just 89 percent of ASCs and 96 percent of HOPDs always had a staff member present who was certified in advanced life support for pediatric patients.
3. Almost all ASCs and HOPDs made sure patients knew who to contact if a postsurgical complication arose after a procedure. However, only 78 percent of ASCs and 86 percent of HOPDs followed up with patients within 24 hours of discharge.
4. For patient selection, 97 percent of ASCs used a standardized screening tool to ensure procedures could be performed safely in their facility. Seventy-five percent of HOPDs used a similar tool.
Read the executive summary here.
