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How Do I Determine if my Doctor's Office is a Safe Facility?
asked 8 months ago by anon
Latest answer by Sam Naficy, MD
Question viewed 480 times
Tags: qualifications, safety
What do I look for in terms of picking a doctor with a safe operating facility? What are the special accreditations a non-hospital facility needs?
30 answers to How Do I Determine if my Doctor's Office is a Safe Facility?
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Doctors' offices should have certification by a recognized certification group.
Doctors' offices should have certification by a recognized certification group. AAAHC, IMQ, etc. These make sure the operating rooms etc. are up to high quality standards.
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Safety of outpatient surgery
This is a good question.
There are a number of safety standards for outpatient surgery.
Some surgeons operate in their office facilities which are not certified. There are No Standards in place for those facilities
AAAASF has the Easiest Standards for outpatient surgery
AAAHC, JCAHC have Medium Standards for outpatient surgery
Medicare has the Toughest Standards for outpatient surgery and holds the surgeons, their RNs, and anesthesia providers to...
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How Do You Find Out if my Doctor's Office is a Safe Facility?
The key element is to look online to see if they are an accredited operating facility by the AAAASF (American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities, Inc.) and also you can go to your state’s health board and find out if the facility has had any significant problems. Specifically ask them to show you the facility accreditation. Certainly, if they are a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon and are a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) or the...
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Facility accreditation is like "board certification" of the practice
A facility is most likely to be safe if their equipment, policies, and procedures are all held to the strictest standards. There are currently 4 private accrediting bodies (AAAHC, AAAASF, JCAHO, and IMQ) that perform voluntary, objective, outside review of medical practices and in-office operating rooms.
Seek out a physician whose facility, policies, and procedures have passed the high standards of one of the 4 organizations above.
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Facelift - How Do I Determine if my Doctor's Office is a Safe Facility?
Great question - non absolute answer, but you can start by making sure it's an accredited facility. One place to start is the American Association for the Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities, or the AAASF. Their site at aaaasf dot org will list facilities that meet their exacting standards. JACHO and AAAHC are other organizations that provide comparable levels of oversight. You can, of course, have the procedure done in a hospital as an alternative...
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Facelifts in the doctors office
Safety has many considerations:
how old are you
are you healthy
what are the office OR accreditation's
what type of Anastasia
who is doing the anesthesia
is the doctor board certified
what hospital does he have the same privileges in
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Accreditation is Vital for Patient Safety
I, like other posters on this site, have an accredited office surgical facility (AAAASF). Accreditation is a laborious, time intensive process that a Surgeon must put in place (in the State of Florida) to ensure safety in office based surgical facilities. However, there is no guarantee that your Surgeon (or company that hires the Surgeon) will be compliant with regulations. Therefore, it is up to the patient to perform due diligence. Following suit, look for a facility accredited...
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Ask About Accreditation
Ask your doctor to expalin what certificates of accreditation his or her facilty holds. This process doesn't garuntee you won't have a complication but it does mean the facilty including the operating room and recovery room has to pass a very precise list of standards that are designed for patient safety and protection. And the process is lengthy ard arduous for the surgeon. It sends the message that he or she is concerned about your safety and that in the rare...
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Certifications of a safe surgical facility
It is very important to look for a surgeon who performs surgery in a certified ambulatory surgery center. Federal Medicare certification is the gold standard by which the majority of surgery centers in the country are certified by, including large multispeciality ambulatory surgery centers. Most hospitals are also Medicare certified. Many states also license surgery centers. Other accreditation agencies include AAAASF, AAAHC, and JAACO. These are all private...
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Facility accreditation
In NY, it is prohibited to perform any procedure requiring any sedation which can affect conscious awareness other than in an accredited facility. This is defined as an office based surgery facility accredited by the AAAASF or Joint Commission. In order to obtain Joint Commission certification for my facility, my staff and I went through six months of effort, purchased state-of-the-art safety and monitoring equipment and then had to pass an accreditation survey which was 10 hours long and...
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Determining the Safety of a Private Surgery Center
This is an excellent question, the quality of your surgery center is almost as important as the expertise of your surgeon. Check to see if the surgery center is accredited. The American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities, Inc. (known as Quad A)is the leading accrediting organization. They require stringent national standards for equipment, operating room safety, personnel and surgeon credentials. You can check their website to see if a surgery...
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Checking out office ORs.
If you are really concerned you need to see the actual approval certificate from the accrediting agency. Most surgeons will maintain their standards but I do know of some unscrupulous docs who never maintained their accreditation after they got it initially. They would still reply that their facility was accredited. I'm sure that this is the exception.
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Accreditation of an Office Operating Facility
In California, it necessary to have an office operating facility accredited by an independant agency such as AAAHC, AAAASF, or IMQ. If you don't have that protection in your state, insist that your surgery be done in an accredited facility or a local hospital.
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Surgicenter safety
The easiest way is to ask what certifying and monitoring agency oversees the surgical center. You should be able to be given that information and then you can contact the certifying organization for a report of standing. The surgeon should also have the ability to perform the procedure you desire at a hospital, if they do not, they may not have the credentials to perform the procedure as the hospitals are more demanding in their verification of training process.
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Evaluating a surgical facility
There are several accreditation organizations for office operating facilities. I think AAAASF has the highest standards because it requires all of the surgeons using the facility to be board certified in the procedures they perform at the facility. For example, to do plastic surgery in the facility, the doctor must be certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery.
I find it very disturbing that in some states (Washington, for example) some facilities are able...
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How do I determine safety of my cosmetic surgeon?
Your best bet overall is to choose a Diplomate of the American Board of Plastic Surgery, and a member of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. The RISKS page on our website explains why.
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How Do I Determine if my Doctor's Office is a Safe Facility?
Some states, like California, regulate all surgical facilities through accreditation with AAAAHC, AAHC or similar groups. In some states this accreditation is not mandatory but is on a volunteer basis. In other words, the surgical facility elects to be accredited and some may not. Be sure the surgery center is accredited.
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Surgery Center Accreditation
Any office based surgery should be performed only in either a AAAASF or Medicare accredited facility. These meet the highest standards and are the most difficult to achieve. Doctors who have taken the time, effort and expense to meet these standards will typically be the most professional and best qualified. Beware of non-certified operating facilities and non-board certified Plastic Surgeons.
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Look at items 8, 9, and 10 below.
Tips on picking a Plastic Surgeon
Article by George J. Beraka, MD
Manhattan Plastic Surgeon
1) Is the surgeon a member of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery? Members usually do a lot of cosmetic surgery.
2) Did you sense a commitment to excellence in the office. Did the surgeon spend a lot of time with you? Someone who rushes through the consultation may rush through the surgery.
3) Were you treated as an individual? Did the surgeon present you with a surgical...
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Finding a safe facility
The first step in choosing a surgeon is to check his or her credentials and those of the facility in which he or she operates. Be sure to ask to see the accreditation information for your provider's surgical center. Make note of the accrediting agency and check their Website to see what requirements they have for accreditation. Be sure you feel safe and comfortable with both the surgeon's credentials and those of the facility before you agree to any procedure.
Donna Rich, MD
Houston Plastic Surgeon
Houston Plastic Surgeon
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Safe Outpatient Surgical Facilities
The operating rooms should be accredited by an independent national accreditation institution. Our facility is AAAHC accredited but there are a handful of them and all of them follow similar strict guidlines. Most cosmetic surgeons use facilities that have been surveyed by AAAHC, AAAASF, JCACHO or Medicare. An accredidation is only given if the practice follows the highest standards in outpatient surgery. Because standards are constantly evolving, facilities have to be re-accredited every...
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Office facility accreditation is the key to safety
All surgeons should have office facilities accredited by one of the quality assurance organizations such as the Joint Commission, AAAASF, or AAASF. The assures that the highest quality standards for safety and regular inspection have been met. You should be able to confirm compliance on the web site for the accrediting organization.
Best of luck,
peterejohnsonmd
Peter E. Johnson, MD
Chicago Plastic Surgeon
Chicago Plastic Surgeon
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Safe office surgery
Look for up to date accreditation by an independent surveying organization approved by the State you live in.
Sheldon S. Kabaker, MD
Oakland Facial Plastic Surgeon
Oakland Facial Plastic Surgeon
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Surgery Center
A respectable board certified surgeon will ensure his/her patient's safety first. This includes use of board certified anesthesiologists and accredited surgery centers. Furthermore, check to see where your surgeon has hospital privileges. Hospitals have stringent criteria for allowing physicians to be part of their medical staff. It is perfectly fine to ask these questions during your consultation.
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Determination Of Office OR Safety
It is very important to determine the saftey of an office operating room if that is the site that your surgeon has suggested. There are three different national accrediting organizations (AAASF, AAAHS, JCAHCO). In addition to making sure that the facility is accredited by one of these organizations, you should also determine if the OR is licensed by the state and is Medicare certified. The other question which should always be asked is "Do you have hospital privileges...
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John Whitt, MD
Louisville Plastic Surgeon
Louisville Plastic Surgeon
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There are several organizations that accredit surgery centers.
It depends on your state as well. AAAASF, AAAHC, IMQ are some of the organizations that accredit office operating rooms. Be aware that the are different levels of certification based on the type of anesthesia used in the office. Standards are much higher for operating rooms that use general anesthesia. Recognize that inspection is performed on a schedule so between inspections, how an organization follows these standards makes a very significant difference. Ask...
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How to verify that a surgical facility is safe
This is an excellent question and unfortunately most patients don't ask it. In general, you want to make sure the facility is AAAASF certified (you can find this online but the facility will also have a certificate verifying this). This is a very high standard of operating room certification that requires meticulous attention to detail and regular re-certification. I would also make sure all the surgeons using the facility are Board Certified in Plastic Surgery and have...
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Shahram Salemy, MD
Seattle Plastic Surgeon
Seattle Plastic Surgeon
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In office safe surgical suite
You need to look at two things: 1. the facility to be accredited by any of the following national organizations; AAAASF, AAAHC, Medicare. My office is AAAASF accredited, which means there's a yearly evaluation and every other year on site inspection with 100% compliance required. 2. make sure your plastic surgeon has hospital privileges for the same procedures he/she is planning to do in the office. Hospitals credential physicians according to their board certifications recognized by...
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Accreditation
Some states require office based and ambulatory surgical facilities to be accredited, others do not. All reputable facilities should be accredited. AAAHC is also an excellent nationally recognized agency to ensure compliance with a rigorous list of standards. ASK for information from your provider, an accredited facility will be proud to share their accomplishments!
J. Charles Finn, MD
Raleigh-Durham Facial Plastic Surgeon
Raleigh-Durham Facial Plastic Surgeon
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Finding safe operating facilities in plastic surgery
In order to properly assess the safety of a plastic surgeon's operating facility you should first of all be sure it is accredited by a nationally recognized agency such as the AAAASF (check their web site) which does annual inspections of all facilities and demands 100% compliance with a huge list of rules and regulations all designed with your safety in mind. Make sure also the doctor has hospital privileges to do your same kind of surgery in the hospital setting as he/she is...
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