NJSpotLight: State Health Department Could Oversee Single-Room Surgeries

[Editor's note: The following was written by NJSpotlight.com reporter Beth Fitzgerald.]

Each year, hundreds of thousands of surgical procedures are performed as same-day surgeries in the state's more than 300 outpatient surgery centers, a growing list of procedures that includes spine, joint, and bone operations; cataract surgery; plastic surgery; dental implants; and colonoscopies. The state Department of Health licenses hospitals and multiroom ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), but it doesn't license single-room surgical practices housed in a doctor's office. They come under the purview of the state Board of Medical Examiners, which licenses doctors. But that could change during the lame duck session of the state legislature: on Monday, the Assembly Health Committee will hold a hearing on a bill to make all surgical facilities subject to uniform licensing by the health department.

The New Jersey Hospital Association supports the bill, which passed the Senate in June. It will "finish the process of leveling the playing field between ASCs and hospitals," said Kerry McKean Kelly, spokesperson for the NJHA.

Assemblyman Herb Conaway Jr. (D-Burlington) chairs the Assembly Health and Senior Services committee. Conaway is both a medical doctor and a lawyer, and he is the prime sponsor of bill A4099, which extends state health department authority to one-room surgical centers. He said he wants this legislation passed and sent to Gov. Chris Christie during the lame duck session.

"We want to take action to tighten up the regulatory environment around the one-room surgery centers," Conaway said. "As matters have evolved, we have seen that there are more complicated procedures being done outside of the hospital, and we want to make sure that those procedures are done in settings that are appropriate." He said the bill does not "unduly interfere with the practice of medicine, but provides as safe an environment that we can for patients. That is what we are trying to achieve."

The legislation is backed by the New Jersey Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers (NJAASC) and the Medical Society of New Jersey. Physicians who operate surgical practices, meaning they perform surgery in a single room in their office, will continue to do so under this law, but they will be licensed by the health department. Right now, the department inspects both ASCs and surgical practices, but doesn't license the latter, which are certified by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

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