The HealthCare Accreditation Specialists!

Tired of getting those insurance claims denied?

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 04:57:00 +0000

Feeling as though, you will never see reimbursement but, you'll never stop seeing those denials letters reading...."we will not reimburse facilities that are not Medicare certified or dhs licensed"?Wanting a quick easy fix that will solve this problem with denials once and for always? THE COMPLIANCE DOCTOR, LLC HAS YOUR SOLUTION. IT IS THE REALIZATION THAT YOU HAVE TO BECOME CERTIFIED BY CMS OR LICENSED BY YOUR STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. SURE IS NO EASY WAY ROUND THIS OTHER THAN TO JUST DO IT AND BITE THAT BULLET.

IN THE LONG RUN, YOU STAND TO WIN. CALL TODAY, IT'S REALLY NOT THAT DIFFICULT. WE HAVE A PROGRAM DEVELOPED JUST FOR THOSE SITES LIKE THESE EXPERIENCING GRAVE CONCERNS OF THEIR DENIAL RATES.

Medicare Certification is not that hard.

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:56:00 +0000

it's really not hard so long as you have experienced folks like The Compliance Doctor, LLC by your side, call today for a medicare assessment for your facility.

Largest review of office-based plastic surgery confirms safety in accredited facilities

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 09:41:00 +0000

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. A study examining plastic surgery procedures performed in accredited outpatient facilities found that office-based surgery is as safe as surgery performed in hospitals. The study published in July's Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery® (PRS), the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), reviewed more than 1.1 million procedures and found the mortality rate to be significantly less than one percent or 0.002 percent.

"The study shows that plastic surgery in accredited facilities is safe and deaths are rare," said ASPS Member Surgeon Geoffrey Keyes, MD, study co-author. "However, people should consider plastic surgery with the same seriousness as medically necessary surgery. Most importantly, patients should have their procedure performed by an ASPS Member Surgeon in an accredited facility."

The study reviewed data collected from January 2001 through June 2006 by The American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities (AAAASF), which mandates biannual reporting of all complications and fatalities. The data was obtained from facilities accredited by the AAAASF, which requires that surgeons be board-certified and have credentials at a hospital to perform any procedure being contemplated at an office-based facility. The ASPS requires all of its Member Surgeons to operate only in accredited or licensed facilities.

The study found deaths occurring at office-based surgery facilities are rare. More than 1.1 million operative procedures in AAAASF-accredited office-based outpatient surgery centers were studied from 2001-2006. Deaths were infrequent, occurring 2.02 in 100,000 procedures or 0.002 percent, which is comparable to the overall risk of such procedures performed in hospital surgery facilities. The vast majority of deaths were due to pulmonary embolism (a blood clot that travels to the lungs, blocking major blood vessels). Pulmonary embolism is an uncommon cause of death associated with any type of surgery whether elective or medically necessary.

These new findings contribute to a growing safety record for office-based surgery procedures. A 2004 PRS journal study examined 400,000 operative procedures in AAAASF-accredited office-based outpatient surgery centers from 2001-2002 and found that death occurred in 1 in 59,000 procedures or 0.0017 percent.

"While all surgery carries risks, the bottom line is that this study illustrates patients can and should feel safe when they go to an ASPS Member Surgeon who performs their procedures in an accredited facility," said ASPS President Richard D'Amico, MD. "Amazingly, only 14 states mandate accreditation of facilities, so it's up to the patient to be knowledgeable. A patient's safety and life is everything."

Nearly 11.8 million cosmetic surgery procedures were performed in 2007, up 59 percent since 2000, according to ASPS statistics. Fifty-nine percent of cosmetic surgery procedures were performed in an office-based facility, 21 percent in a free-standing ambulatory surgical facility, and 20 percent in a hospital.

Source: American Society of Plastic Surgeons

The Economy and HealthCare. Is your healthcare business at risk?

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:30:00 +0000

Is the economic situation of our nation today, is it going to effect your business tomorrow? The answer is yes, it will have some effects in your business model regardless of your specialty. Which I feel bring a chance for time starving physicians to take notice of ways to improve their offices in the way of patient satisfaction. I have this company on the mark to assist you in increasing satisfaction of your patients while at the same time increasing your ability to ensure a better and quicker return of your claims for their office visits. Take some time and review the link. Go to the website: www.phreesia.com and see for yourself. It is entirely free of charge and you benefit more than you could ever imagine. Warm Regards to all of you, Troy Lair

Do U use your left or right sides of your brain?

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:05:00 +0000

If you see this lady turning in clockwise you are using your right brain.
If you see it her turning the other way, you are using left brain.
Some people do see both ways when they watch for a minute or two, but most people see it only one way.

See if you can make her go one way and then the other by shifting the brain's current.
BOTH DIRECTIONS CAN BE SEEN .

Experimentation has shown that the two different sides or hemispheres of the brain are responsible for different manners of thinking. The following table illustrates the differences between left-brain and right-brain thinking:

Left Brain Right Brain
Logical Random
Sequential Intuitive
Rational Holistic
Analytical Synthesizing
Objective Subjective
Looks at parts Looks at wholes

Most individuals have a distinct preference for one of these styles of thinking. Some, however, are more whole-brained and equally adept at both modes. In general, schools tend to favour left-brain modes of thinking, while downplaying the right-brain activities. Left-brain scholastic subjects focus on logical thinking, analysis, and accuracy. Right-brained subjects, on the other hand, focus on aesthetics, feeling, and creativity.

If you look away, she may switch from one direction to the other.

I found that if I just look at her feet or relax and look at the floor where the reflection shows, she will switch direction!

Interesting Story, well written.

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 13:33:00 +0000

10/24/2008)

By Joseph L. Galloway
McClatchy Newspapers
This is an autumn of great discontent as not just the United States, but
the entire world trembles on the brink of an economic recession that may
bring the kind of pain that's known only to the oldest among us.
With days to go before Election Day, the country watches as a
presidential candidate and his political party unravel, frantically
dragging every ugly ghost out of the closet in an attempt not only to
fool everyone, but also to scare everyone.
They appeal to the worst remnants of racism that cling like kudzu to a
dying magnolia. Their robot phone dialers intrude on millions of uneasy
citizens with messages of hate and fear and envy and greed.
They try to paper their opponent with guilt by association: He
associated with a man who, decades before they ever met, belonged to a
group of wild-eyed student revolutionaries.
They and their forces of darkness falsely claim that he is a Muslim at
the same time they attack him for belonging to a Christian church whose
black minister aimed angry sermons at white America.
They have presided for the last eight years over a stunning
redistribution of wealth: They've turned Robin Hood upside down, taking
from the poor and the middle class and giving to the very rich.
Yet they tar their opponent for daring to suggest that it's time to turn
the tables and redirect some of that wealth to those who are jobless,
homeless and hopeless, and to the millions of other hard-working
Americans who are likely to join those growing ranks in the months and
years to come.
They call him a socialist for embracing a principle that's rooted deeply
in the teachings of the Christianity that they wear on their sleeves but
cannot find room for in their hearts.
They promise to "correct the mistakes" of their own president, their own
members of Congress, their own appointed overseers and regulators, if
only we give them another chance.
They promise to punish the Wall Street tycoons and the big bankers who
in their greed built this house of cards that's crashing down onto Main
Street. Yes they will. Surely they will smite the robber barons who
brushed a few crumbs from their groaning tables of riches into the laps
of the very people who now say they'll punish these malefactors of great
wealth.
They say this even as the barons, bulging with bonuses and commissions,
pick over the carcass of a fallen economy gouging out a tasty morsel or
two more for themselves.
Is it any wonder that Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin and the
Republican Party are sinking like the Titanic? Do they take us all for
complete morons? Granted, they may have reason to think that. After all,
we not only elected George W. Bush our president, we also re-elected him
to a second term. In so doing, we sowed the wind, and now we are reaping
the whirlwind.
Fooled us twice, they think, so maybe the third time is charmed.
That, however, doesn't seem likely as a cold, hard winter looms this
November. Not likely at all.
Here's a prediction for you, for them: McCain and Palin will go down to
defeat by 15 to 20 points, and they'll take a heap of Republicans down
with them to ignominious defeat.
The financial collapse and the painful fallout that's stalking the
nation won't be righted overnight. Putting Barack Obama in the White
House and giving the Democrats a veto-proof majority in Congress won't
mean that happy days are here again.
Hard work, sacrifice and suffering lie ahead. It could take a decade or
two to repair all the damage that Bush, Dick Cheney and all those
Republican congressmen in prison, out of prison and en route to prison
have done to our economy, our military, our standing in the world, our
Constitution and to civil discourse and competent governance.
In the meantime, we Americans would do well to try to remember all those
things that our grandmothers told us about getting by in hard times.
How to get by on a lot less. How to grow a vegetable garden.
How to squeeze a nickel till the buffalo bellows.
How to appreciate the small joys of family and friends.
How to share what you have, no matter how little you have, with those
who have nothing...

So this is what the 85 Billion Dollars our Tax Money went to purchase?

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:05:00 +0000

Enough of Government Bail outs! Let's try something different...

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 04:20:00 +0000

Life is more simple than we realize, why we must ignore the simple mathematical formulas that promote success is beyond me. Let's see if you agree with this simple formula:

^{I'm against the $85,000,000,000 bailout of AIG. Instead, I'm in favor of giving $85,000,000.000 to America in a 'We Deserve It Dividend'. To make the math simple, let's assume there are 200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+.}

^{Our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up.. So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billon that equals $425,000.}

^{My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a 'We Deserve It Dividend'.}

^{Of course, it would NOT be tax-free. So let's assume a tax rate of 30%. Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500 in taxes.}

^{That sends $25,500,000, 000 right back to Uncle Sam. But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500 in their pocket.}

^{A husband and wife has $595,000 00.}

^{What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?}

^{Pay off your mortgage - housing crisis solved.}

^{Repay college loans - what a great boost to new grads}

^{Put away money for college - it'll be there}

^{Save in a bank - create money to loan to entrepreneurs.}

^{Buy a new car - create jobs}

^{Invest in the market - capital drives growth}

^{Pay for your parent's medical insurance - health care improves}

^{Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean - or else}

^{Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces. If we're going to re-distribute wealth let's really do it...instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( 'vote buy' ) economic incentive that is being proposed by one of our candidates for President. If we're going to do an $85 billion bailout, let's bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+! As for AIG - liquidate it. Sell off its parts.}

^{Let American General go back to being American General. Sell off the real estate. Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up. We deserve it and AIG doesn't.}

We have added a market place for healthcare professionals to enjoy and purchase tools needed

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 05:08:00 +0000

Our newest change to our .biz website www.thecompliancedoctor.biz is our physician market place. It is full of tools from policy and procedures, to job descriptions. We are currently working on DVDs and interpretative guidelines to assist professionals with tools they can use in adjunct to their skills and knowledge for this sort of work. take a look and see all the equipment we now have, affording you wholesale prices at the fraction of what you'd pay for them at retail. Take a look, call us today. The Compliance Doctor, LLC

congratulations anita and Reproductive Partners of La Jolla CA.

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:27:00 +0000

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:18:00 +0000

congratulations to Anita and Reproductive Partners of La Jolla, CA. They have just been notified that they've received another three year accreditation and with honor they so do deserve this achievement.

congratulations Anita, job well done!

Ambulatory Nursing Shortage, alive or dead?

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:39:00 +0000

In Denver, 78-year-old Mary Heidenreich died when a nurse who had flunked a medication competency test accidentally gave her a fatal dose of intravenous drugs.

In Wichita, Kan., 38-year-old Deedra Tolson bled to death after an emergency hysterectomy when her nurse, busy caring for 12 other patients, failed to hear her feeble cries for help.

In Alliance, Ohio, 30-year-old Lisa Vitale was waiting to give birth when she felt searing pain rip through her abdomen. An overworked nurse misread Vitale's fetal monitoring strip and failed to notice that her baby was in serious distress. Born hours after an emergency cesarean section could have saved his health, Vitale's son suffered severe brain damage that left him unable to drink from a bottle and required round-the-clock medical care.

In Florida, William T. Fain, 80, fell, hit his head, suffered brain damage and died two weeks later, an autopsy report said all while under the care of an agency nurse at Westside Regional Medical Center. Fain came to the ER after a seizure on Super Bowl Sunday in 2006, his family said in a negligence suit filed last month. Doctors ordered nurses to send Fain to the ICU and, in the interim, take steps to prevent him from falling from his bed, the suit said. They were to put up bedrails, lower the bed and check him more often. The agency nurse on his case did none of those steps, the suit said. After he spent 12 hours in the ER, and shortly after his family left for the evening, nurses found Fain on the floor. He fell, hit his head, suffered brain damage and died two weeks later, an autopsy report said.

Realizing all of these incidents were Acute Care related, how long can we dodge this National Nursing Shortage in the Ambulatory Care setting?

• No matter what your historical staffing vacancy rates have been, it is time we all begin to plan for the inevitable. There is fewer nursing students entering the field than there are vacant positions needing filled. According to the Nurses Coalition, only one position out of ten vacancies are being filled by nursing graduates, leaving a 90% vacancy on the books to be filled by other means than a permanent full time nurse.
•
• Some argue that the Ambulatory Care setting is one of several culprits to this shortage that hazardously impacts the inpatient/acute care settings. This highly debatable theory is relatively squashed knowing of the nursing shortage we have in the ambulatory environment.
•
• One could speculate that many nurses could not argue the fact that patients do receive better quality care when the care is delivered by familiar staff, staff well trained in the facilities’ systems and protocols.

Ambulatory Surgery Centers deliver more cost effective care to the patient than that care of the hospital setting. We realize this to be true; our patient satisfaction scores validate this as a fact. The lower vacancy rates that the ASC industry presumes has a direct correlation to the scores of our patient’s satisfaction. What are we doing to safeguard this within our own industry? How do we work harder today at our retention rates to dodge the sting of the shortage needle?

A quick guide to consider as action items you and your surgery centers can employ to withstand the outbreak of this epidemic, infecting your surgical centers:
> Provide new hires with the appropriate number of hours towards a secure, documented, and effective training schedule under the direction of a preceptor.
> Ensure that any new hire is paid according to your salary scale with years of experience comparable to those other nursing staff members.
> Ensure that no newly hired staff nurse is walking into the position at a higher rate of pay than those presently employed.
> Provide a formal structure whereby the nursing staff meet regularly, with pay, to look at opportunities for streamlining processes that l reduce their workload, providing them more hours at the bedside.
> Ensure that all members of management provide positive feedback frequently, and constructive critism at the time of the event while maintaining their privacy.
> Provide timely evaluations to the staff and ensure raises are paid annually, if not more frequently.
> Participate in frequent and employee observed salary scale validation.
> Strive towards self-directed nursing staff groups, reducing the need for management hours.
> Adopt and Implement a nursing friendly charting program that invites the nursing staff to chart only the exception and what actions were taken to resolve.
> Insist that the nursing staff take their yearly vacations and not allow the organization to demerit the importance.

If employing outside agencies to meet your nurse to patient ratios dictated by state regulations, then try to minimize any adverse events or effects by:
> Hiring staff for long term assignments, i.e. travelers or local nurses
> Contacting with an agency that prides’ itself in their retention rates of their registry staff
> Require the agency to provide you data on the nurse that comes to work for you in your facility, i.e. performance evaluations, references to the last assignment worked, etc.
> Require the registry staff to take and pass the competency skills assessment test you and your governing board has adopted as the organizations’ minimum expectation for the interim position.
> Ensure that the registry contract is without the nuisance of a large buy out clause if you and your registry nurse would want to be placed as a permanent staff member, employed by the center.

The time has come for each of us to participate in objectively looking at our staff and the vacancy of any open positions. We must work just as hard at retaining those that do deliver quality care so that we might dodge the need to subject our surgical patients to the dangers of placing those registry nurses that do not.

Surgery Center Design and Sq Feet used as a political weapon -

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:25:00 +0000

Troy Lair, PhD and CEO of The Compliance Doctor, LLC based out of Los Angeles writes this story and becomes headlines to the Missouri Times as "Political Weapons, Surgery Centers are now a target. Beware!"

This morning's news reported that the State of Missouri is considering legislation that will require existing abortion clinics (there are four of them) to conform to standards of 'ambulatory surgical centers' in order to continue offering their services. Proponents of the law call it 'common sense' and necessary for safety while abortion rights advocates decry it as a backdoor attempt to shut down abortion clinics.

Regardless of how you personally feel about the issue of abortion, this situation vividly shows how political architectural space can become. 'Ambulatory surgical centers' require 6 foot corridors and 12 x 12 examination rooms. One of the existing abortion clinics in Missouri has 5 foot corridors and 10 x 10 foot examination rooms. The new law would require the facility to essentially gut the majority of their spaces in order to comply-- about $650,000 of changes including plumbing, ventilation and other systems. The governor calls it one of the strongest pro-life laws ever put in place. Three of the four abortion clinics will have to make changes in order to comply with the new law. One doctor describes this will make it "difficult if not impossible to get abortions in this state".

Again, I bring up this issue not to necessarily spark a debate about abortion, but to point out that what we do as surgery center designers for space and patient flow for processes sometimes becomes a larger issue than first meets the eye. It is said that architecture is the manifestation of intention, and this intention embraces functional, spiritual and philosophical goals in addition to budgetary and tangible space issues. Oh, what tangled webs humans can weave.

Source: National Public Radio Morning Edition, March 14, 2008 · "Missouri Pro-Life and Anti-Choice Square Off" by Kathy Lohr. A federal judge is reviewing a Missouri law that requires abortion providers to become licensed as Ambulatory Surgical Centers. To do so requires retrofitting offices to meet codes. The new law is criticized as a bid by anti-choice legislators to make it difficult for women to get abortions.

Pre-Accreditation Jitters, is your ASC infected?

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:16:00 +0000

PAJ occurs on a regular basis in ambulatory surgery centers throughout America. Most administrative personnel anticipate the onset of PAJ months in advance. The pre-accreditation jitters can have a devastating impact on workplace stress, staff morale, employee health, and productivity.         
While the folks in IT departments have no trouble understanding the classic GIGO formula (garbage in, garbage out), the risk management committees, administrators, physicians doing the peer review seem to suffer from an occupational blind spot. If medical transcribers can easily identify the chronic conditions, which provoke PAJ, why can’t those of us so close to the core do the same? Why can’t the pre-accreditation jitters be avoided?
        Come April 15th, will the news media have their cameras out as taxpayers rush to the post office to file their returns before the midnight deadline? Planning a story about people who wait until the last minute to do their taxes is a no-brainer for news editors. What about the millions of people who file their tax returns on time because they were doing what they should have done all along? Whether running a surgery center or a restaurant, they pay their employer’s taxes on time. Their W-2 forms are delivered to employees and their 1099 forms appear in contractor’s mailboxes on time. Not only do these people understand the responsibility to store and maintain data so that they are ready to print W-2 and 1099 forms by mid-January, they also know that other people are expecting these forms to arrive on time in order to prepare their taxes and avoid any penalties for late filings. Suppose we compare maintaining a patient’s medical record to handling a company’s accounting functions? In the financial world, data has to be clean. How can you plan a budget without sufficiently solid data to forecast income and expenses? How many people in your accounts payable department are allowed to issue blank checks? There isn’t an ASC in this country that doesn’t have at least one doctor whose dictated reports contain enough blanks to look like a piece of Swiss cheese. Or, a handful of surgery center staff that is notorious procrastinators. When people don’t know how much of a mess has been made – or don’t care – there’s good reason for the person in the hot seat (usually the Administrator and/or the Medical Director of the ASC) to get a bad case of the pre-accreditation jitters. Suddenly, there is a heightened awareness of the need for quality control in transcription. As the pressure starts to build and employees are asked to work longer hours, management’s expectations become more and more unreasonable.  While working in the outpatient arena, my friends and I used to compare the long-term health of large dysfunctional nonprofit institutions to that of problem drinkers. Is there a corollary between a surgery center’s pre-accreditation jitters and an alcoholic’s delirium tremens?  The people at the bottom of the ladder are not fools. Nurses know which doctors make sloppy, illegible entries into patients’ charts or simply don’t chart a post-op note at all. But, as PAJ sets in suddenly on the eleventh hour before accreditation, miraculously dictated then transcribed reports appear. Medical transcribers know which doctors are continually contradicting themselves while dictating because they’re lost in space, dictating so fast that they can’t help but make errors, or are simply too exhausted to pay attention to what they’re doing or saying. Accountants know who’s been doing a responsible job of tracking expenses. It is unheard of for someone to address the physician or staff about their sloppiness in work habits and force them to sober up and learn the proper technique in documenting coherent entries into the medical record. That might require people to risk losing their jobs by accusing a doctor/alcoholic figure of not doing his work properly and being a hazard to those around him. Even worse, it might mean that in a medical peer review, doctors might actually have to accuse their colleagues of being incompetent and whose poor work habits continually jeopardize the accuracy of their patients’ medical records. Surgery Center Administrators decide that by outsourcing transcription to India they can get faster turnaround with a lower price per line. With new advances in Internet technology, entrepreneurs trumpet claims that they have solved all the problems of creating and maintaining an electronic medical record.         Larry Abernathy, the President of Digital Voice, Incorporated, claims that “Philips speech recognition technology is being married to our dictation system, to give birth to DVI Speech Power. Without changing physicians’ dictation behavior, we can run their DVI Voice Power dictations through the speech engine, produce a draft text report, and then provide this text – along with a synchronized voice playback – to a ‘medical editor.’ We anticipate dramatic improvements in productivity since correcting a small number of mistakes will be considerably faster for your transcriptionists than transcribing the entire document.         Abernathy’s statement blithely ignores the fact that fast key stroking is not the issue, which keeps bringing medical transcriptionists to their knees. The problem is the incoherent statements spewing forth from the mouths of the dictators with absolutely no intention of improving the quality of their dictation. When was the last time the medical staff at your ASC diagnosed with the PAJ? Isn’t it about time, we join forces to construct a unity in legibility, quality, and consistency?
Don’t let your ASC be subjected to the infectiousness of PAJ, insistently ensure that all participants of your ASC is up on all their vaccines and that any Antibiotics needed are given way in advance to prevent this industry wide break-out of the Pre-Accreditation Jitters.

“Assisting the clients at doing it right from the very beginning” is our mission statement. Troy Lair, CEO and Principal Consultant of The Compliance Doctor, LLC. A Los Angeles Based Consulting Company that serves the nation in accreditation and licensure.

Dr. Yamini Survives another Medicare Survey, The Compliance Doctor, LLC takes him through it with flying colors of success!

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:12:00 +0000

Dr. Yamini, A Los Angeles Based Gastro Physician - this Jan 2008 was time for his renewal of accreditation with Medicare Certification. The surveyor, she arrived the early morning of the 18th of Jan ready to go and in full steam ahead. We spent all day the first day going over all the documentation, quality, and patient records. Day #2 was the day for observing a procedure, looking through the operating room details and so forth. He was left without deficiency and will receive a three year accreditation with no doubt. He was another happy client of TCD - and we helped him do it right from the very beginning. The Compliance Doctor, healthcare accreditation experts hard at work to help you understand what it is that you have to do to be safe and regulatory healthy in the world of healthcare and all of its over-regulated demands.

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 20:38:00 +0000

Happy Holidays from The Compliance Doctor, LLC

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 03:47:00 +0000

The Compliance Doctor, LLC

wishes all of you a happy holidays and the best for the 2008 year.

Be safe, Be Compliant!

It is about time that we all see the beauty in even our pet adoptions.

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 21:22:00 +0000

you have to see this, a true love for those imperfections in life that reality gives us... it is those imperfections that make us unique and unlike any other. we know that there are imperfections in and around all walks of life. to include, that which we adore most. our best friends! check out this organization, give freely for freely you shall receive.

rusty the sleeping dauschund

is where you go first, then you go to Sanctuary for Imperfection (beloved pets)

Healthcare needing revolution or transformation?

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 17:53:00 +0000

The Denver Business Journal - by Bob Mook Denver Business Journal

Convenience and lower costs are driving more patients away from hospitals to ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) for basic outpatient surgical procedures.

In Colorado, there are 105 ASCs, and the number of new facilities grows about 7 percent a year, according to the Colorado Ambulatory Surgery Association.

Sue Hayes, administrator for Englewood’s Rocky Mountain Surgery Center, said physicians like the centers because it’s easier to book an operating room in a short amount of time than in hospitals. Rocky Mountain Surgery Center is most commonly used for knee replacement, knee arthroscopy and hip joint replacement surgeries.

Hayes also claimed in many cases, surgery centers give patients better service than do hospitals.

“I felt like a VIP,” said Thomas Wells, who visited Rocky Mountain Surgery Center in early September to have a large welt drained from his stump.

Wells, 54, who lives in Denver, lost a leg during a motorcycle accident last July. He’s endured about 18 surgeries because of the accident.

Health care observers say doctors are investing in the ASCs to fund their retirement strategies, since younger physicians are reluctant to buy their practices.

Even hospital networks, which once regarded the centers as revenue-sucking competitors, are buying bigger ownership stakes in ASCs.

According to the Federated Ambulatory Surgery Association, a Washington, D.C., trade organization representing surgery centers, hospitals have an ownership interest in 21 percent of ASCs, and 3 percent of ASCs are owned entirely by hospitals.

“Hospitals originally viewed these centers as competition and sought to stifle their growth,” said Jim Hertel, editor of the industry newsletter Colorado Managed Care. “But in the past few years, they recognize [ASCs] as extensions of hospitals that can help moderate patient demand at a time when there’s significant growth in volume.”

ASCs once were criticized for creating an economic strain for the industry, because they siphon patients who are covered by insurance and that pays for their care, while hospitals get saddled with uninsured patients whose costs often goes uncovered.

But Hertel said he wouldn’t be surprised if nearly all ASCs were 100 percent owned by hospitals in the future.

Centura Health, which manages 12 hospitals owned by Catholic Health Initiatives, owns nine surgery centers in Colorado, including the Golden Ridge Surgery Center in Golden and the Crown Point Surgery Center in Parker.

HCA-HealthONE LLC, a Denver-based health care network whose hospitals include the Medical Center of Aurora, North Suburban Medical Center, Presbyterian/St. Luke’s Medical Center and Rose Medical Center, owns a 51 percent stake in Rocky Mountain Surgery Center, which is located less than one mile away from HealthONE’s Swedish Medical Center.

HealthONE has a stake in 13 ASCs in Colorado, said David Roy, vice president of operations for the ambulatory surgery division of HealthONE.

The center also benefits from having HealthONE’s administrative muscle in negotiating contracts and recovering claims from insurers — a benefit that freestanding surgery centers don’t always enjoy, Hayes said.

Surgical costs at ASCs could be as low as 60 percent of comparable procedures performed at hospitals. One reason is there are no hospital room charges.

“We don’t have all the overall costs [of hospitals],” Hayes said. “We’re not running a 24-hour facility or an ER. We stay lean and mean in staffing.”

Hayes added that many nurses prefer working at an ASC over a hospital because of the operating hours — which seldom require overtime or late nights.

The popularity of surgery centers is likely to grow because of the convenience and price factors, Roy said.

He noted that the federal government has moved to allow Medicare reimbursements for 750 procedures to be accepted in outpatient centers beginning next January.

The internet needs to bring a healthcare revolution, today!

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 17:50:00 +0000

Deadly accreditation, A Time for Outsourcing.

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 06:36:00 +0000

PREVIEW ONLY
Please note: this PREVIEW ONLY version of your release (see below) is made available to show you how your distributed release will look. It is only available from within your management console and should not be shared with third parties. Also, some important functionality (including tracking technology) is not available in the preview version of your release.
Troy Lair, President of The Compliance Doctor, LLC Says 'Deadly Accreditation at Ambulatory Surgery Center Signals Imminent Need for Outsourcing Accreditation Needs'
Houston nurse who set deadly fire to surgical suite blames bungled accreditation project! The accreditation process at a Houston cosmetic and laser surgery office turned deadly March 28 when a stressed 33-year-old licensed vocational nurse set a small fire to her office after-hours to destroy accreditation paperwork to buy herself more time, killing three and injuring six, according to Troy Lair, president of The Compliance Doctor, LLC. The incident was featured in Outpatient Surgery Magazine, May 2007 - yet has received very little nationwide attention. Says Lair, "This incident takes the stress of accreditation to a heightened level of concern and marks perhaps the first time ever that lives have been lost in the quest to deter the re-accreditation process. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the many friends, family, and coworkers affected by this tragic loss."

Marina Del Rey, CA, (PRWEB) JUNE 27, 2007 -- The accreditation process at a Houston cosmetic and laser surgery office turned deadly March 28 when a stressed 33-year-old licensed vocational nurse set a small fire to her office after-hours to destroy accreditation paperwork to buy herself more time, killing three and injuring six, according to Troy Lair, president of The Compliance Doctor, LLC. The incident was featured in Outpatient Surgery Magazine, May 2007 -- yet has received very little nationwide attention.

Says Lair, "This incident takes the stress of accreditation to a heightened level of concern and marks perhaps the first time ever that lives have been lost in the quest to deter the re-accreditation process. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the many friends, family, and coworkers affected by this tragic loss."

The Compliance Doctor, LLC is the stress-reducing answer to the time-honored and usually stressful process of meeting the various hospital and outpatient surgery center accreditation requirements nationwide. They provide comprehensive compliance and accreditation support to LTC Facilities, Sub-Acute Hospitals, Ambulatory Surgery Centers, Office Based Surgery Suites, Diagnostic Testing Facilities, Sleep Centers and Labs, Physical Therapy Rehab Centers, and Acute Care Facilities.

When asked why she set fire to her office, the woman told her boss that the surveyor was due to visit the next day and she had procrastinated in preparing paperwork needed for an accreditation survey, despite the fact that she told her boss that the paperwork was completed. She confessed to arson authorities that she went to such lengths to keep her fabricated accreditation tale from caving in.

Although an extreme case, the stress that underlines and propels the accreditation process can often send employees into early retirement, resignation, or find some way to circumvent accreditation documentation duties.

Adds Lair, "When the process is so cumbersome and time-consuming, and often given to an employee or team that has clinical duties they must also balance, it just makes sense to outsource this essential function to an organization that specializes in getting the job done -- on time, and at a very affordable price." The Compliance Doctor dispatches professionals to their clients' sites for their proven Preventive Maintenance and Accreditation Services (PMAS) Compliance Program, as well as many other important services.

Lair explains that The Compliance Doctor, LLC customizes its accreditation and survey readiness services to exceed client needs for the following groups: Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Healthcare (AAAHC), The Joint Commission (JCAHO), Institute for Medical Quality (IMQ), American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities, Inc. (AAAASF), American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), Department of Health Services (DHS), Center for Medicare Services (CMS), and Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA). The Compliance Doctor, LLC offers a "Preventative Maintenance and Accreditation Service" (PMAS) program, with fees as modest as $5,000- $8,000. For more information, please contact The Compliance Doctor, LLC President Troy Lair,

310-566-7282, troylair@thecompliancedoctor.com

http://www.thecompliancedoctor.com. http://www.thecompliancedoctor.biz

To set up an interview with Troy Lair, please contact Peggy Frank, Frank Public Relations Worldwide, at 818-735-3591, or pfrank@frankpr.com, www.frankpr.com.

For the complete article in Outpatient Surgery Magazine, May 2007, see http://www.outpatientsurgery.net/2007/os05/feeling_the_heat.php

About The Compliance Doctor, LLC

The Compliance Doctor provides comprehensive compliance and accreditation support nationally to LTC Facilities, Sub-Acute Hospitals, Ambulatory Surgery and Cosmetic Surgery Centers, Physician Based Surgery Suites, Diagnostic Testing Facilities, Sleep Centers and Labs, Physical Therapy Rehab Centers, and Acute Care Facilities. The Compliance Doctor customizes its accreditation and survey process services to exceed client needs for the following groups: The Joint Commission (JCAHO), Institute for Medical Quality (IMQ), American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities, Inc. (AAASF), Department of Health Services (DHS), Center for Medicare Services (CMS), and Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA). The Compliance Doctor is the recognized, coast-to-coast stress-reducing answer to the time-honored and usually stressful process of meeting accreditation and survey requirements nationwide. They provide comprehensive compliance and accreditation support to LTC Facilities, Sub-Acute Hospitals, Ambulatory Surgery and Cosmetic Surgery Centers, Physician Based Surgery Suites, IDTF Models, Adult Health Programs, Physical Therapy Rehab Centers, and Acute Care Facilities. http://www.thecompliancedoctor.com.

Contact Information
Peggy C, Frank, MBA
The Compliance Doctor
http://www.thecompliancedoctor.com.
818-735-3591

Accreditation Stress? The Compliance Doctor has the Solution!

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 06:09:00 +0000

HIPAA and RED BAGs

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 19:11:00 +0000

The Compliance Doctor, LLC

YOU SHOULD CARE ABOUT HIPAA and RED LABELED WASTE, YOUR LICENSE MAY BE IN JEOPARDY IF YOU DON'T!

Every Med Spa center has the responsibility to meet all federal and state regulations pertaining to the operations of such a facility. This includes the adherence to HIPAA,

OSHA and the proper disposal of waste. All centers are encouraged to maintain copies of client histories but, does your center protect this information? How is it protected? Is it compliant to the standards of Title XXII of California Department of Health and Human Services? When a client enters your center, are they asked to sign in on a sheet that other names are made public? Do you think that having retail is the key to being exempt from HIPAA? If you answered yes to any of these questions, this is a problem.

A successful MedSpa starts with being in compliance with all of these points for discussion.

You may feel that inside the walls of your center which are equipped with the best products, service, equipment, attractive staff, and atmosphere you ask yourself why are some MedSpa's more successful than others? MedSpa's are opening up in record numbers around the country but when you browse through your local career websites, you will find that the staff turnover rate is increasingly high. With such a high turnover rate, your exposure to litigation, violations, and possible licensure disciplinary action from the boards increases two fold. For every new hire, your risk is increased by 50%. When was the last time you ensured that your staff were in-serviced and quizzed on the regulations of HIPAA for privacy and release of medical information?

What is happening in this arena, where you can find the best of both worlds, integrating medical grade products and procedures with a spa and retail like atmosphere? Here you start to build a recipe for success and you find yourself constantly looking for new clients and new staff. Not only is it not advisable to be doing both simultaneously, it is also detrimental to any business to be at the mercy of a trainee while trying to retain current clientele. Staff development and training to your spa's policy and procedures regarding HIPAA and OSHA training is so very important, yet a recent survey detected only 30% of new hires were getting any training at all, not to mention HIPAA and OSHA specifically.

Patient Health Information is protected under federal law and if you are a Spa under the supervision of a Medical Doctor, then you are a MedSpa and you must comply. This means you, the owner, medical director, allied health professional, office manager, receptionist, cashier, and anyone else in who is employed or contracted by the center. The Federal Government takes this very seriously. Consumers are becoming increasingly more aware of this and they know they have rights and the right to file complaints and file suits.

Proper disposal of Bio Hazardous Waste

After the allied health professional performs Botox injections, how do they dispose of the needle and syringe? Do they participate in recapping? Have you or anyone else in the MedSpa been guilty of cross-contamination? A Los Angeles Physician was recently suspended from licensure for sixteen months secondary to sticking a soiled needle into the vial of a sterile med. Are you at risk of being disciplined for similar acts of lazy and negligent procedure? "Don't ever under estimate the consumers awareness of proper procedure", this, now non-working, physician warns.

The Compliance Doctor, LLC
can safeguard your center and assist you with complying with all of the federal and state regulations including HIPAA and OSHA Certification. We are a healthcare consulting firm that specializes in the development, training, licensure, certification, and recruitment of healthcare professionals.

For a small fee of $500.00, we will come into your facility, assess your strengths and weaknesses and at the same time give you advice and quick solutions to improve your integrity against such litigation. And, if you call and mention this article, we'll throw into the sale a full service training session of both: HIPAA and OSHA with documented staff participation and agenda for your records in order to meet state mandates.

Many clients, like you, have called taking that first step of ensuring compliance. Call today, tomorrow may be too late! 310-566-7282 or email us @ info@thecompliancedoctor.com

our expanded menu of services add the ease...

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 23:25:00 +0000

We officially launched our newest website. The Web Address:

www.thecompliancedoctor.biz

At this site, you'll be able to take advantage of our totally customized, tailored packages to meet all of the ambulatory surgery center's needs while optimially reaping the compliance results on the standards from the AAAHC, AAAASF, IMQ, and The Joint Commission. We are so excited to have this finally get off the ground and take a life of it's own. Policy in individual form is only $28.00 each or you can take advantage of the entire manual containing each and everyone of our procedures of current, past, and yester-year for the affordable price of only $1899 - A REAL BARGAIN for you Bargain Shoppers!

Supporting the on-line contributions of some is so easy...

info@thecompliancedoctor.com (The Compliance Doctor, LLC) — Sun, 27 May 2007 20:13:00 +0000

We all know that there are companies that have illegally used funds you donated to their own selfish cause and reason. a look to some of the most reputable companies out there that we contribute to and advocate their mission statement are: