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Payers save money. Medicare payment to ASCs for high-volume procedures is lower than Medicare payment to outpatient department of hospitals for the same procedures. In 2008 the difference will be 37 percent. Studies have shown the Medicare program would pay approximately $464 million per year more if all procedures performed in an ASC were instead furnished at a hospital.

Consumers save money. A Medicare beneficiary could pay as much as $496 in co-insurance for a cataract extraction procedure performed in a hospital outpatient department, whereas the maximum out-of-pocket cost for the same beneficiary to receive the service in an ASC is $195. Likewise, a Medicare beneficiary could pay as much as $186 in coinsurance for a colonoscopy performed in an outpatient department of hospital but only $89 if they had the procedure in an ASC.

Employers often achieve similar savings when their employees choose ASCs as the Medicare program does for its beneficiaries. Reimbursement from private insurers for the same outpatient surgical procedures performed in an ASC setting is lower than in an outpatient hospital setting. As in Medicare, both the insurance company and the patient pass less for their care if they use an ASC.