The following five resources offer a variety of methods to facilitate ASC quality improvement:
1. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Toolkit To Improve Safety in Ambulatory Surgery Centers. This toolkit employs the AHRQ's Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program designed to prevent surgical site infections. ASC leaders can download the kit for free.
2. The Joint Commission and CDC Guide to Infection Prevention for Outpatient Settings. The resources from The Joint Commission and the CDC include the Guide to Infection Prevention for Outpatient Podiatry Settings and Guide to Infection Prevention in Orthopedic and Pain Management Office Settings, and are available to download for free.
3. The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care's annual quality roadmap report. Each year, the AAAHC releases a report detailing areas of high and low compliance for ASCs, Medicare deemed status ASCs, office-based surgery facilities and primary care settings. The report helps centers identify areas for safety improvement. Past reports are available for download for free.
4. HHS' ASC Survey on Patient Safety Culture Database. HHS' database will store information from ASC patient safety culture surveys, and will help assess where improvements need to be made.
5. ASC Quality Collaboration's safe injection practices toolkit. This toolkit contains posters, procedure templates and assessment tools to help ASCs maintain compliance with safe injection practices. The materials are publicly available for download.
