Patient safety watchdog The Leapfrog Group yesterday announced an expansion of its Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Public Reporting Program. It says the redesigned initiative to rate the safety of nearly 4,000 U.S. ASCs will go public in late July.
Leapfrog President and CEO Leah Binder calls it a “game changer,” adding that “for the first time, patients and employers will be able to compare among thousands of ASCs. ASCs will also have a powerful opportunity to showcase their achievements for their communities.”
Leapfrog says the expanded program “introduces a more comprehensive approach to measuring and reporting ASC performance.” Its three new elements include:
- CMS Public Reporting: Leapfrog will score and report 13 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) quality and safety performance measures for all applicable ASCs, such as unplanned postoperative hospital visits, falls and wrong-site, wrong-side, and wrong-procedure errors.
- Accreditation Standards: Leapfrog will report achievement on five additional measures verified through accreditation by The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care or The Joint Commission. “These include important processes such as documenting medications, using a safe surgery checklist, and ensuring staff have the right certifications,” stated Leapfrog.
- ASC Survey 2.0: Leapfrog stated that it will score and publicly report ASC performance on quality and safety measures from the revised and shortened Leapfrog ASC Survey 2.0, which opened yesterday. Those measures include how a facility “approaches patient rights and ethics, including taking responsibility for never events and health equity, as well as crucial patient safety practices like hand hygiene.”
Leapfrog will publicly report ASC patient safety and quality data in July. Read more about the changes here.
