Department of Health (DOH) Surgical Practice Registration
Physicians, who indicated on their medical license renewal that they are affiliated with a surgical practice, received notice from the Board of Medical Examiners (BME) and the Department of Health (DOH) regarding the surgical practice registration requirement. The deadline for registration has been extended from April 16, 2012 to October 31, 2012.
This notice has raised some concerns for members that are unsure whether their practices are considered surgical practices under the law. The statutory definition of a surgical practice is a building or office suite that has: one operating room, equipped to perform surgery; one or more post anesthesia care units or a dedicated recovery area; and is established by a physician practice solely for the practice’s use. See N.J.S.A. 26:2H-12 (2012). DOH provided additional guidance on its website stating, “a surgical practice is an operating room using general anesthesia or IV or conscious sedation” and “[a] room in which procedures are done using local anesthesia is not a surgical practice.”
If you have not registered your surgical practice with the DOH already, you must register before October 31, 2012. If you erroneously indicated that your practice is a surgical practice on the BME medical license renewal application, you must inform the BME of the error via e-mail as soon as possible.
The BME notice reported an incorrect e-mail address for notification, which was in e-News last week: please send notices to the correct e-mail: surgical@dca.lps.state.nj.us.