The SVS Sub-Section on Outpatient and Office Vascular Care (SOOVC) has released the anticipated Office-Based Lab (OBL) Handbook to guide practitioners and aid with safety and cost-effectiveness, as well as expand patients’ access to care.
Anil Hingorani, MD, chair of SOOVC, emphasized the increasing prominence of outpatient vascular care, constituting over 50% of lower extremity angioplasties. The handbook aims to fill the existing resource void, offering guidance on starting and maintaining office-based labs (OBLs) and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), catering to new practitioners and those with established practices.
“We don’t have many resources for how to manage this and develop and maintain these new types of practice models. This handbook is a resource meant to help a new practitioner or even a practitioner who already has an up-and-running OBL or ASC and assist them in maintaining these new paradigms,” said Hingorani.
He highlighted the dynamic nature of the handbook, describing it as a live document that will evolve as the field progresses. This adaptability, made possible by its online format, enables timely updates and additions. Three new chapters have already been added since the initial version, reflecting the field’s rapid evolution. The handbook will have both an online and a print version for accessibility, with the online version available now.
The handbook covers crucial topics for practitioners, including finance, research, anesthesia, equipment and accreditation. Hingorani said the chapters, designed to be concise and focused, feature formats such as bullet points, regular text, pictures and charts that are easy to understand.
Addressing the timeline of the handbook’s creation, Hingorani mentioned that the process began about a year ago, with authors submitting chapters within a relatively short timeframe, facilitated by their familiarity with the subject matter. The SVS team played a crucial role in the editing process, ensuring the quality of the content.
Hingorani mentioned the challenges practitioners face in the evolving field of outpatient vascular care, mainly focusing on financial considerations, regulations, and ensuring patient safety and quality care.“We want to make certain that these OBLs are financially solvent, and a lot of planning is done before you put the shovel in the ground,” said Hingorani. “Quite frankly, you want to ensure you have a financial plan. Fortunately, this handbook has chapters written by experts who know how to develop those. In medicine, we don’t train our trainees how to do that.”
The handbook authors continuously contribute and provide updates to ensure the handbook remains a comprehensive and up-to-date resource.
Regarding the future of the handbook, Hingorani mentioned the possibility of turning chapters into podcasts, leveraging the growing popularity of audio-based content. The aim is to make the content more accessible for practitioners.
“This is an important contribution and advancement to the field that many of our practitioners are getting increasingly involved with, but more importantly for our patients, it’s quite important because they prefer an effective environment to perform these procedures.”
For more, visit vascular.org/SOOVC.
