Office-based anesthesia in Belgium?
For many years, office based anesthesia (OBA), has been considerably increasing in the US. This type of practice is starting to develop in Belgium. On the other side of the atlantic, legislation concerning this practice is becoming more and more precise, whereas the same isn't true in our country. It seems therefore opportune to try and define the different points of view. This article will define the position of the legislator, insurance companies and finally, of the professional organizations. OBA practice is developping insidiously here, and we should therefore ask ourselves serious questions regarding the legal repercussions that it could have. To conclude, we can say that if for a couple of years, the US have started to legislate and propose guidelines, as well as creating special accreditation organizations to inspect and advise the offices, the same is not the case in Belgium. The OBA phenomenon arrived much later here and is really at its very beginnings, but it seems however important to anticipate and clearly regulate this practice in our country.
Ferrant
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Saint-Luc Hospital, Catholic University of Louvain, Medical School, Hippocrate Avenue 10/1821, 1200 Brussels, Belgium. tanguyferrant@hotmail.com
Nardella
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Van Boven
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D000556:Ambulatory Surgical Procedures / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D000758:Anesthesia / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D001530:Belgium; D006801:Humans; D007883:Legislation, Medical; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000639:trends; D014481:United States