Outpatient Surgery Settings

Who must be accredited or licensed?

California law prohibits physicians from performing some outpatient surgery, unless it is performed in an accredited or licensed setting.

Section 2216 of the Business and Professions Code (B&P) specifies that on or after, July 1, 1996, no physician and surgeon shall perform procedures in an outpatient setting using anesthesia, except local anesthesia or peripheral nerve blocks, or both, complying with the community standard of practice, in doses that, when administered, have the probability of placing a patient at risk for loss of the patient's life-preserving protective reflexes, unless the setting is specified in Health and Safety Code Section 1248.1. Outpatient settings where anxiolytics and analgesics are administered are excluded when administered, in compliance with the community standard of practice,in doses that do not have the probability of placing the patient at risk for loss of the patient's life-preserving protective reflexes. The definition of "outpatient settings" contained in subdivision (c) of Health and Safety Code Section 1248 shall apply.

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Accredited Outpatient Surgery Settings:

Pursuant to the enactment of SB 100, effective January 1, 2012, Health and Safety Code Section 1248.2(b)(c)(d) now provides:

"(b) The board shall obtain and maintain a list of accredited outpatient settings from the information provided by the accreditation agencies approved by the board, and shall notify the public, by placing the information on its Internet Web site, whether an outpatient setting is accredited or the setting's accreditation has been revoked, suspended, or placed on probation, or the setting has received reprimand by the accreditation agency.
(c) The list of outpatient settings shall include all of the following:
(1) Name, address, and telephone number of any owners, and their medical license numbers.
(2) Name and address of the facility.
(3) The name and telephone number of the accreditation agency.
(4) The effective and expiration dates of the accreditation.
(d) Accrediting agencies approved by the board shall notify the board and update the board on all outpatient settings that are accredited."

The board is currently working with the agencies listed below to develop a system to perform a global search without the need to contact the agencies individually. Previously, not all data referenced above was required to be submitted by the accrediting agencies to the board; therefore, not all information will be displayed at this time or the information may be incomplete. The database will be updated as additional information is acquired.

At this time, you may contact the agencies directly. Their contact information is listed below. Most agencies offer an online search mechanism. Once our online system is in place, a button will be added to this page for ease of searching.

Amercian Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities Inc. (AAAASF)
5101 Washington Street, Suite 2F, Gurnee, IL 60031
Telephone #: (847) 775-1970
Fax #: (847) 775-1985
www.aaaasf.org

Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC)
5200 Old Orchard Road, Suite 200, Skokie, IL 60077
Telephone #: (847) 853-6063 or (847) 853-6060
Fax #: (847) 853-9028
www.aaahc.org

The Joint Commission
One Renaissance Boulevard
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181
Telephone #: (630) 792-5261
Fax #: (630) 792-5005
www.jointcommission.org

The Institute for Medical Quality (IMQ)
221 Main Street, San Francisco, CA 94105
Telephone #: (415) 882-5165
Fax #: (415) 882-5149
www.imq.org

The law specifies certain outpatient surgery settings are excluded from the accreditation requirement, such as ambulatory surgical centers certified to participate in the Medicare program under Title XVIII, health facilities licensed as general acute care hospitals, federally operated clinics, facilities on recognized tribal reservations, and facilities used by dentists or physicians in compliance with Article 2.7 or Article 2.8 of Chapter 4 of Division 2 of the B&P Code, as outlined in Health and Safety Code (H&S) Section 1248.1. A facility does not need to be accredited if it is one specified in that code section.

For further information concerning this law, or for assistance in determining accreditation or licensure of an outpatient surgery setting, please contact Susan Morrish, Licensing Program Analyst, at (916) 263-2393 or susan.morrish@mbc.ca.gov.

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Licensed Outpatient Surgery Settings:

To find out if an outpatient surgery setting is licensed by the California Department of Public Health, click HERE.