Alert

Changes to Office-based Surgery Law Effective April 13, 2016

Effective April 13, 2016, the deadline for submission of OBS AE reports has been extended from 24 hours to 72 hours.

Also effective April 13, 2016, office-based surgery (OBS) practitioners must report two additional types of adverse events (AE). These include:

1. Unplanned emergency department visits within seventy-two hours of office-based surgery; and,
2. Unscheduled assignment to observation services within a hospital within seventy-two hours of the office-based surgery. *

These new types of OBS adverse events are in addition to the following previously mandated types of AE:

1. Unplanned transfer to a hospital or emergency department from an OBS practice;
2. Unscheduled admission to the hospital for longer than 24 hours within seventy-two hours of office-based surgery;
3. Patient death within thirty days;
4. Suspected transmission of blood-borne pathogens from staff to patients or between patients, and;
5. Any other serious or life-threatening event. *The DOH has adopted the National Quality Forum's Serious Reportable Events as our definition of "other serious or life-threatening events" involving OBS patients, found in Frequently Asked Questions of Practitioners number 23). Frequently Asked Questions for Practitioners (Revised September 2013)

*DOH is in the process of building an electronic AE reporting system, please continue to complete the paper AE reporting form until the electronic form is available. When reporting one or more of the new AE types:

• In Question 1, select "any other serious…event"; and,
• In Question 6, write in the date and type of event being reported (ED visit, observation stay, etc.) in the blank space available.

The AE form can be found here: Office-Based Surgery - Adverse Event Report.

Electronic Office-based Surgery Adverse Event Reporting is Coming

Office-based Surgery adverse event reporting is being transitioned to an electronic system in 2018. Training will be provided prior to implementation.

In the meantime, continue to send adverse event reports to the address below or submit via the secure file transfer application on the DOH Health Commerce System website. Contact the Office of Quality and Patient Safety to learn more about this method of submission.

Office of Quality and Patient Safety (OQPS) Contact information:

• Mail: Office-Based Surgery
  Office of Quality and Patient Safety
  New York State Department of Health
  Corning Tower, Room 1938
  Albany, NY 12237.
• Phone: (518) 408-1219
• Email: obs@health.ny.gov.

List of accredited Office-based Surgery Practices: Office-Based Surgery Practices in New York State.