A New Jersey law that would require the licensure of all the state's ambulatory surgery centers has passed through a senate committee with amendments that could do away with physical design requirements and ambulatory tax assessments for most single-room facilities.
It's the latest legislative twist to a bill introduced last March by state Sen. Joseph Vitale that would require all surgery centers to be licensed by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, regardless of their size. The health department does not currently license single-room centers. The proposed bill stemmed from a New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute report released earlier this year that questioned the safety of the state's unlicensed surgery centers.
Sen. Vitale's original bill called for all licensed centers to meet design standards for a DHSS license, a stipulation ASC advocates claimed would have hamstrung many single-room facilities that face physical plant constraints. The original bill also exempted single-room centers from paying ambulatory care tax assessments, unless they expanded to add more ORs.
Amendments made to the bill last month did not grandfather in existing single-room centers failing to meet design standards and eliminated the tax assessment exemption.
According to Jeffrey Shanton, chair of the New Jersey Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers' Advocacy & Legislative Affairs Committee, late changes made to the bill before it passed through the senate committee last week waive the physical plant requirement for facilities that are Medicare certified as ASCs. He points out that Medicare-certified facilities have already undergone inspections that include reviews of physical plants for patient and public safety concerns. Unlicensed facilities that are not Medicare certified, however, would have to earn that certification, according to the bill's new language.
Mr. Shanton says the most recent amendments again exempt single-room facilities from paying ambulatory care assessments, unless — as stated in the bill's original draft — they expand to add additional ORs.
The bill now enters the state assembly for review, most likely after the fall elections, according to Mark Manigan, a healthcare attorney and ASC advocate with the Brach Eichler law firm in Roseland, N.J.
He says the NJAASC has been working with state legislators to develop a law that creates uniform patient safety, clinical and reporting standards for ambulatory surgery, regardless of where procedures are performed. "We believe that this bill, as amended, achieves this goal in a reasonable and measured way."
Daniel Cook
