HospitalsRecon

Uniontown surgery center certified for outpatient knee replacements

  • Jan 14, 2019 / By Rachel Basinger

After a nearly two-year application process with the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Elite Surgery Center in Uniontown is now one of just four centers in the entire state that has been granted exceptions to perform outpatient knee replacement surgeries.

“Our patients want to have this option,” said Dr. David Sheba with the Elite Surgery Center. “People who are in pain really just want to recover in their own home.”

The center, located at 205 Mary Higginson Lane in the area of the Uniontown Wal-Mart, has been in operation for five years and has serviced patients in all of these different areas: orthopedic, podiatry, eurology, gynecological, opthamology, pain, plastic surgery and some general surgeries.

Nate Wardle, the press secretary for the Department of Health, said in granting an exception, the department takes into consideration patient safety and access, advancements in the medical field, consultation with stakeholder groups in the medical community, and input from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

“The department may also establish conditions for the performance of certain procedures in licensed ambulatory surgical facilities,” Wardle said. “If a facility is granted an exception and adheres to the conditions of the granted exception, it will be permitted to offer those services; however, the Department still retains its authority to survey for compliance with the Health Care Facilities Act and corresponding regulations, as well as revoke a granted exception.”

Currently the department of health has granted four exceptions with conditions, including: Elite Surgery Center LLC, Uniontown, to perform knee surgeries; Advanced Center for Surgery, LLC, Altoona, to perform hip and knee surgeries; Grandview Surgery & Laser Center, Camp Hill, to perform knee surgeries; and UOC Surgical Services, LTD, State College, to perform hip and knee surgeries.

“When I first started fifteen years ago, it took five to seven days of recovery time from a knee replacement surgery, but it has been a trend across the country in recent years to get the patient mobile as quickly as we can,” Sheba said.

Even for those who are having the surgery in a hospital, Sheba said he has patients there who they look to send home either that day or by the next day.

Renee Lazuka, center manager and director of nursing said they had heard a few years ago about another center who was performing outpatient hip replacements and looked into it.

“We were told we could perform the surgeries as long as we applied for an exception through the Department of Health,” she said.

Lazuka added that the reason the state requires special exceptions is because joint replacement surgeries are always extensive, with concerns about blood loss, infection to the joint or bone and how a surgical team can manage a patient’s pain while at the same time keeping them coherent enough to begin the process of moblility and walking.

“Technology has changed so much over the last several years and there’s now a different kind of pain block that can be used that still allows patients to be mobile safely,” she said. “Safe mobility while managing pain was a big part of the reason why patients would have to stay in the hospital for the first two or three days.”

Sheba said improvements in both anesthesia techniques as well as orthopedic techniques has made the surgery less traumatic overall.

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Chris J. Stewart

Chris currently serves as President and CEO of Surgio Health. Chris has close to 20 years of healthcare management experience, with an infinity to improve healthcare delivery through the development and implementation of innovative solutions that result in improved efficiencies, reduction of unnecessary financial & clinical variation, and help achieve better patient outcomes. Previously, Chris was assistant vice president and business unit leader for HPG/HCA. He has presented at numerous healthcare forums on topics that include disruptive innovation, physician engagement, shifting reimbursement models, cost per clinical episode and the future of supply chain delivery.

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