The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) has announced an accreditation program that is priced to be cost-effective for smaller plastic surgery practices, and is tailored to the specific needs of practices that offer office-based surgery (OBS).
The AAAHC defines an OBS center as an organization that has no more than four surgeons and no more than two operating/procedure rooms.
Features of the new OBS Accreditation program include:
· The AAAHC OBS Standards are written as statements describing the characteristics required of an accreditable organization. The Accreditation Handbook for Office-Based Surgery with Review Guidelines is a tool that gives OBS organizations a clearer understanding of how compliance with each of the Standards will be assessed.
· A reduction in accreditation fees has been made to reflect the smaller size of OBS organizations compared to ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). The total cost of $3,500 includes a $775 application fee and a $2,725 fee for the onsite survey and related activities. All subsequent surveys also cost $3,500.
[Source: AAAHC]
