Becker's ASC Review

49 QUALITY & ACCREDITATION 12 Patient Handoff Communication Tools to Know By Anuja Vaidya H ere are 12 tools that aim to improve patient handoff at health- care facilities. Digital Nurse Assistant. Developed by PARC, a Xerox company, Digital Nurse Assistant is an electronic medical record ex- tender. e tool automates numerous tasks nurses typically perform by hand. It delivers real-time data to clinicians and allows nurses to re-prioritize their tasks quickly to manage new challenges and issues. Smart Sign Out. e iPad application helps healthcare providers with patient information sharing. Developed by Cypress North, the soware allows physicians to update patient information in real time, from the patient's bedside if need be. e soware features a patient dashboard color-coded by risk level as well as integrated auto-com- plete for more than 14,000 diagnoses and 9,000 medications. Safer Sign Out. e Safer Sign Out protocol, developed by the Emer- gency Medicine Patient Safety Foundation, aims to improve the safety and reliability of end-of-shi patient handoffs. e protocol includes five components: • Record using a form • Review • Round together • Relay to the team • Receive feedback e Safer Sign Out form includes sections for the patient's name and age, a list of problems and key issues, pending items, patient disposi- tion and other notes. Patient Hand-Off/Over Tool Kit. Developed by AORN and the U.S. Department of Defense Patient Safety Program, the web-based tool kit provides resources to help standardize hand-off communi- cations among healthcare providers. It is based on the Department of Defense Patient Safety Program TeamSTEPPS initiative. Team- STEPPS is an evidence-based strategy aimed at improving com- munication and teamwork skills among healthcare professionals, including frontline staff. 10 ASCs Achieving Accreditation By Allison Sobczak Here are 10 recently ac- credited ambulatory surgery centers. 1. The Accreditation Associa- tion for Ambulatory Health Care granted accreditation to Gwinnett Advanced Sur- gery Center in Snellville, Ga. 2. The Accreditation Associa- tion for Ambulatory Health Care granted accreditation to KC Pain ASC in Kansas City, Mo. 3. Spring Creek Surgi- cal Center in Providence, Utah, earned Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care accreditation. 4. The Accreditation Associa- tion for Ambulatory Health Care granted accreditation to Associated Endosco- py in Hermitage, Tenn. 5. The Accreditation Associa- tion for Ambulatory Health Care recently accred- ited Glennville (Ga.) Eye Surgery Center. 6. Ft. Worth, Texas-based Se- lect Ambulatory Surgery Center earned Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care accreditation. 7. The Accreditation Associa- tion for Ambulatory Health Care accredited Rancho Mirage, Calif.-based Hope Square Surgical Center. 8. The Accreditation Associa- tion for Ambulatory Health Care accredited Alaska Spine Institute Surgery Center in Anchorage. 9. Gainesville-based Brill Surgery Center of North Florida obtained American Association for Accredita- tion of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities accreditation. 10. The American Asso- ciation for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facili- ties granted accreditation to San Diego-based Del Mar Surgery Center. n Physicians, Healthcare Executives Weigh in on Value-Based Care — 6 Survey Findings By Mary Rechtoris A recent Quest Diagnostics and Inovalon study found 74 percent of physicians and health plan executives reported quality measures are too complex. Here are five more survey findings: • Sixty-five percent of physicians said they do not have all of their patients' necessary healthcare information. • More than half (64 percent) of physicians and health plan executives reported physicians do not have the necessary tools for success in the value-based health- care system. • Of physician respondents, 85 percent reported being likely or very likely to utilize a tool that gives them access to on-demand patient-specific data to identify gaps in quality, risk, utilization and medical history. • Nearly 75 percent of respondents agreed "quality measures are useful in improving care quality." • Fifty-four percent agreed "it's clear to physicians which quality measures apply to their individual patients under relevant value-based care models." n

• Cover