ASCAC Delivers Comments to CMS on Proposed ASC Payment System Changes

Written by Rob Kurtz | August 31, 2010

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The Ambulatory Surgery Center Advocacy Committee has sent a letter to Donald Berwick, MD, administrator of CMS, with the Committee's comments on the proposed 2011 rule for ASC payments.

The ASCAC offered recommendations to better align ASC and HOPD payment systems and stop further divergence in their payment rates.

"CMS has the authority to make incremental changes to the Medicare program to better align the ASC and HOPD payment systems," said Andrew Hayek, chair of the Ambulatory Surgery Center Advocacy Committee and president and CEO of Surgical Care Affiliates, according to a news release from ASCAC. "Such changes will facilitate stability across the industry, improve beneficiary access, and encourage the continued migration of procedures into the least costly, clinically appropriate setting."

ASCAC also encouraged CMS to establish a value-based purchasing program for ASCs, as mandated in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which would allow patients and providers to compare quality across outpatient settings.

"We believe that ASCs provide excellent care, have superior outcomes and extremely low infection rates," Mr. Hayek said in the news release. "Creating a VBP program and aligning the payments across ASCs and HOPDs would create competition in the health care system that is based on quality and efficiency, and ensure that ASCs have the resources, including new technologies and enhanced reporting systems, needed to continue providing Americans access to high-quality care."

Read ASCAC's letter to Dr. Donald Berwick about the ASC payment system (pdf).

Read the ASCAC's news release about the letter to Dr. Donald Berwick.

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