TRENTON — All same-day surgery centers in New Jersey would be licensed and inspected every two years under a bill approved today by a Senate committee. State Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex) said the legislation is aimed at surgery centers with only one operating room, which the state law treats like doctor’s offices. Neither doctor’s offices nor surgery centers with...
State Sen. Joseph Vitale in this file photo. TRENTON — All same-day surgery centers in New Jersey would be licensed and inspected every two years under a bill approved today by a Senate committee.
State Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex) said the legislation is aimed at surgery centers with only one operating room, which the state law treats like doctor’s offices.
Neither doctor’s offices nor surgery centers with one operating room are licensed or inspected by the state Department of Health and Senior Services even though they perform a wide range of surgical procedures that do not require an overnight stay in a hospital.
"If inspected every two years, like multi-suite surgery facilities are, accountability would be enhanced,’’ said Vitale, a member of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee who co-sponsored the legislation.
Vitale and Sen. Robert Singer (R-Ocean) sponsored the bill after after the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute issued a scathing analysis based on state inspection reports of 91 surgery centers statewide.
Catherine Purnell, the institute’s director of policy and clinical support, testified before the committee today that of the 91 centers, 40 were unlicensed, and the use of 17 of them put patients in "immediate jeopardy" because of poor safety and sanitary conditions.
Purnell said the other 51 centers, which were inspected, fared better, though eight were deemed to be in "immediate jeopardy."
"We have a growing health care and safety problem on our hands,’’ she told the Senate panel.
The committee passed the bill (S2780) by a vote of 6-1, with state Sen. Sean Kean (R-Monmouth) casting the lone "no" vote, and sent it to the full Senate.
The operators of a handful of surgery centers urged the committee to soften the legislation, warning that such mandates as a new fee and a potential requirement to remodel their offices might drive some out of business.
"In New Jersey, we have this slow creep of taxation in medicine we want to head off here,’’ said Tim Martin, a lobbyist for the New Jersey Medical Society, a physician advocacy group. "We have the dubious distinction of being the only state that taxes ambulatory surgical centers in the nation."
Vitale amended the bill to spare the centers from paying a tax from $2,000 to $4,000 if they changed the way patients were billed — only once — instead of billing for both the doctor’s time and the center’s time.
Gary Brownstein, a plastic surgeon from Cherry Hill, contended that the measure overlooks how many one one-room centers like his are scrutinized in other ways.
He explained that to remain competitive, centers seek accreditation from private agencies. "Our statistics show without question what safety is all about,’’ Brownstein said. "We are meeting the safety requirements of accredited bodies.’’