News & Announcements
ASTC Licensing Board Holds Meeting
posted: May 1, 2018
The ASTC Licensing Board is a Governor appointed advisory board, consisting of practicing physicians, nurses, administrators, and general public representatives. The Board advises Department of Public Health on licensing and regulation of ambulatory surgical treatment centers. The first Board meeting of 2018 was held on March 7th.
The meeting began with a discussion on HB 4831, the surgical privileges bill. The bill would remove provisions requiring the physician, podiatric physician, or dentist that performs surgery at an applicant facility to have surgery privileges with at least one Illinois hospital in order for the facility to receive a license. Unfortunately, the Illinois Hospital Association lobbied against HB 4831, arguing that patients’ continuity of care would suffer. As a result, the bill failed to pass out of committee.
The discussion then moved to the Record Retention Program update. The ASTC Board had previously requested that the state legislature update the requirements for record retention in the ASC setting for items such as sterilization logs and infection control reports, as there is no CMS guidance for these record types. However, the legislature determined they would not provide guidance. The Licensing Board was not satisfied with this outcome and will continue to push for additional updates.
The last discussion of the meeting centered on physician’s presence. Although this issue has been dormant for some time, the board hopes to work with IASCA on this issue in the near future. While currently physicians are required to remain present at the facility until all patients are medically discharged, IASCA has proposed changes that would allow physicians to leave the ASC facility, provided the patient has met certain care criteria.
The next ASTC Licensing Board Meeting will take place on June 13, 2018. Interested persons should contact Elaine Huddleston in the Office of Health Care Regulations, Division of Health Care Facilities and Programs at 217-782-0483.