Becker's Spine Review

38 OUTPATIENT SURGERY NCamber Spine receives FDA clearance for titanium ALIF device: 3 insights By Angie Stewart F rom 2009 to 2015, almost 50 percent of newly opened am- bulatory surgery centers have closed, according to 2015 Advisory Board data. Mnet Health Services CEO David Hamilton penned a list of strat- egies ambulatory surgery centers can leverage to avoid that fate. 1. Strategically recruit new phy- sicians. Employ surgeons who will strengthen existing areas of specializa- tion or bring in new areas of specialty, as expanding services drives up case vol- ume. To attract different specialists, Mr. Hamilton recommends developing rela- tionships with physicians who are dissat- isfied with working in hospital settings. 2. Enter into new partnerships. Case volume can be boosted through part- nerships, whether between physicians and ASCs or hospitals and ASCs. Phy- sicians given ownership in an ASC be- come invested in the center's growth. Hospitals in joint venture partnerships with ASCs can transfer low-reimburse- ment cases to the ASCs, freeing up their ORs for high-reimbursement cas- es. 3. Improve the quality of care and patient satisfaction. Gather data on patient outcomes and satisfaction. It's critical to understand how patients perceive their experience — includ- ing interactions with physicians — and whether they'd recommend the facility to others. Centers should make adjust- ments based on that feedback, accord- ing to Mr. Hamilton. n Houston Pain and Spine Hospital unexpectedly closes, lays off 63 people — 5 things to know By Laura Dyrda H ouston-based U.S. Pain & Spine Hospital closed its inpatient hospital care without warn- ing, according to an ABC 13 report. Here are five things to know: 1. Aer serving patients for 20 years, the hospital closed its location in the Museum District, and 63 employees were told it was their last day. Employees were surprised; the layoff included surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists and other staff. 2. e hospital will no longer provide inpatient procedures for patients; scheduled pro- cedures were directed elsewh- where. 3. Interim President of U.S. Pain and Spine Christopher Packard said in a statement to ABC 13 that aer the or- ganization's former CEO and CFO departed, it discovered errors related to accounting and omissions in the hospital operations which had a great impact on the bottom line. 4. While the hospital's inpa- tient unit closed, its imaging center, ER and clinics remain in operation. 5. When operational, the hospital provided pain man- agement, orthopedic surgery, spine surgery and gastroen- terology in addition to several other specialties." n CMS publishes procedural coding changes — 392 new codes for 2019 By Angie Stewart C MS released ICD-10-PCS updates for hospital inpatient coding profes- sionals to use for discharges from Oct. 1, 2018 through Sept. 30, 2019. ICD-10-CM diagnosis code changes for 2019 have not yet been published. Here are five insights: 1. There were 78,705 ICD-10- PCS codes for 2018. The total for 2019 is 78,881. 2. For fiscal year 2019, there will be 392 new codes, eight revised titles and 216 deleted codes. 3. Guideline B3.17 was added in response to public comment. The guideline relates to transfer procedures using multiple tis- sue layers. 4. Guidelines A10, B3.7 and B6.1a were revised in response to public comment and internal review. • A10 states that "and," when used in a code description, means "and/or," except when used to describe a combination of multiple body parts for which separate values exist for each body. • B3.7 defines the root oper- ation control as "stopping, or attempting to stop, postproce- dural or other acute bleeding" and provides more definitive root operations to be coded for certain circumstances. • B6.1a stipulates a device is coded only if it remains after a procedure's completion and provides additional guidelines for when to code the insertion and removal of a device. 5. The guidelines were ap- proved by the American Hos- pital Association, the American Health Information Manage- ment Association, CMS and the National Center for Health Sta- tistics. n

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