Standards changes for deemed status ambulatory surgical centers.

Services (CMS) published changes to its Conditions for Coverage (CfCs) for ambulatory surgical centers. The revisions are part of CMS’s recent efforts to remove requirements determined to be unnecessary, obsolete, or excessively burdensome. As a result of these revisions, ambulatory surgical centers are no longer required to comply with the entire set of hospital requirements for radiologic services found at 42 CFR 482.26. The regulatory changes now specify that ambulatory surgical centers must provide only those radiologic services that are integral to the surgical procedures offered. In addition, the CMS regulations now allow nonradiologists (qualified by education and experience in accordance with state law and the ambulatory surgical center’s policy) to supervise the provision of these radiologic services. In response to these regulatory changes, The Joint Commission has added one new element of performance (EP), deleted two EPs, and revised three EPs. The revised EPs, which became effective July 22, 2014, are shown in the box below (new text is underlined and deleted text is shown in strikethrough) and are available on The Joint Commission’s website at http://www.jointcommission.org/standards_ information/prepublication_standards.aspx. These revisions appear in E-dition® and will be published in print in October in the 2014 Update 2 to the Comprehensive Accreditation Manual for Ambulatory Care. For more information, please contact Joyce Webb, project director, Department of Standards and Survey Methods, at [email protected] or 630-792-5277. P Standards Changes for Deemed Status Ambulatory Surgical Centers