Accredited Facilities

<h2>Surgery at an accredited facility</h2> <p>Your surgeon may opt to perform the procedure in a hospital setting or in an out patient or day surgery center.</p> <p>An accredited facility is one that must meet strict national standards for equipment, operating room safety, personnel and surgeon credentials.</p> <h2>The advantages of accredited facilities</h2> <p>Plastic surgery performed by board-certified plastic surgeons in accredited ambulatory facilities - also known as outpatient surgery centers or same day surgery centers - has an excellent safety record. Accredited ambulatory facilities have been documented, through research and the compilation of required reporting, to have:</p> <ul> <li>An extremely low rate of serious complications (less than half of 1 percent)</li> <li>An extremely low mortality rate (less than one in 57,000)</li> <li>The advantage of lower costs</li> </ul> <p>If you need to recuperate overnight or for a few days in a specialty post-surgical treatment facility, make certain that you inquire about that facility's accreditation or licensing as well. In general, accreditation or licensing of such facilities requires that:</p> <ul> <li>You receive around-the-clock care by a minimum of two or more licensed staff members at all times</li> <li>At least one of the two staff members providing around-the clock care be certified in Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS)</li> <li>Necessary equipment and medication to handle any complications are on-site</li> <li>An emergency plan is defined and ready to be implemented should any complication arise that requires transferring a patient to a hospital</li> </ul> <h2>Accredited facilities: A consumer guide</h2> <p>ASPS requires that member surgeons use surgical facilities that meet established standards for quality and safety. All procedures, other than those requiring only local anesthetic and/or mild oral sedation, must meet at least one of the following criteria:</p> <ul> <li>Accredited by the American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities (AAAASF)</li> <li>Accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC)</li> <li>Accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations</li> <li>Certified to participate in the Medicare program under title XVIII</li> <li>A License by the state in which the facility operates.</li> </ul> <p>In general, accreditation or the equivalent requires a facility to:</p> <ul> <li>Allow surgery to be performed only by an ABMS-certified or board eligible surgeon who has privileges to perform the same procedures at a local, accredited hospital</li> <li>Provide anesthesia by a board-certified or board-eligible anesthesiologist or certified nurse anesthetist</li> <li>Maintain a staff of certified surgical technicians, registered nurses or licensed practical nurses who are trained in ACLS and to recognize the signs of cardiac or respiratory distress</li> <li>Adhere to all local, state and national regulations including sanitation, fire safety and building codes</li> <li>Adhere to all federal laws and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations including blood-borne pathogen and hazardous waste standards</li> <li>Use and practice advanced monitoring for patient safety during surgery and immediate recovery. You can verify the accreditation status of any surgical facility by contacting the accrediting organization, specifically: <ul> <li>AAAASF at (888) 545-5222 or <a href="http://www.aaaasf.org" target="_blank">www.aaaasf.org</a></li> <li>AAAHC at (847) 853-6060 or <a href="http://www.aaahc.org" target="_blank">www.aaahc.org</a></li> <li>JCAHO at (630) 792-5000 or <a href="http://www.jcaho.org" target="_blank">www.jcaho.org</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul>