The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission recommended a 0.6 percent increase in ASC payments for 2010 in its March report to Congress.

The report also recommends requiring ASCs to report cost and quality data to the Department of Health and Human Services in order to effectively evaluate the payment rates.

The commission cited the fact that ASC payment rates have not been positively updated since 2003 as one reason for the recommendation to increase rates.

The report also states that the new payment rates implemented by CMS in 2008 will reduce the payment rates for the highest volume procedures at ASCs.

According to the report, the 2008 changes will not be detrimental and may benefit ASCs in the long run, in part because the new payment system covers more procedures.

The report found that during the period of 2002-2007, the number of ASCs grew 6.7 percent per year. During the period, the number of ASCs increased from 3,597 to 4,964. However, the report notes that in 2007, 39 percent of ASCs were concentrated in five states that accounted for 28 percent of Medicare beneficiaries — California, Florida, Maryland, Texas and Georgia.

From 2002-2007, the amount of Medicare payments to ASCs increased considerably, from $1.9 billion in 2002 to $2.9 billion in 2007.

The report also found that the volume of surgical services grew faster in ASCs than in HOPDs during the period of 2002-2007 and the number of Medicare beneficiaries served by ASCs increased 7.5 percent per year.

Read the MedPAC March report (pdf).

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