For years, many ASCs have operated outside healthcare’s transparency movement. This year, the industry is shifting, and the push didn’t just come from patients.
The Leapfrog Group’s ASC Public Reporting Program launched July 27 alongside Leapfrog’s 2026 ratings, which cover more than 6,000 facilities nationwide. This includes over 3,900 ASCs, and is the highest participation in the nonprofit’s 26-year history.
Leah Binder, Leapfrog’s president and CEO, told Becker’s the demand for public ASC data came first from employers and other health benefit purchasers, rather than from patients or the centers themselves.
“Employers were the first to come to Leapfrog and have continuously asked about ASCs because they’re very interested in ASCs,” Ms. Binder said. “They are happy to cover ASC surgeries at ASCs, but they don’t have enough information about their outcomes, and it’s worrisome.”
The economics back up that employer pressure. A 2025 analysis of commercial claims published in The American Journal of Managed Care found insurers paid 110% more, or about $1,042 more per procedure, for common outpatient surgeries such as arthroscopies, cataract removals and colonoscopies when performed at an in-network hospital outpatient department instead of an in-network ASC. Employers, including the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, have already built steerage programs around that price gap, using reference-pricing models that make patients responsible for the difference if they choose the pricier hospital setting.
Ms. Binder said ASCs had no independent way to answer that demand on their own.
“ASCs can certainly issue a press release or an advertisement saying that they’re doing a good job, but that’s not the same thing as publicly reporting to an unbiased watchdog like Leapfrog,” she said. “There’s nobody else out there that’s able to get their information and publicly report it.”
Getting ASCs to actually participate took some engineering. Many centers still rely on paper records or less sophisticated electronic systems than hospitals, and most don’t have a staffer dedicated to quality reporting.
“ASCs have many more barriers to reporting than hospitals do,” Ms. Binder said. “It’s kind of something they all do on the side. It makes it very burdensome for them to report additional quality information.”
According to a July 2025 survey published by the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association, 76% of ASCs now use an EHR, up from 55% in 2021. Yet nearly 1 in 4 ASCs still rely on paper, and two-thirds of those plan to remain paper-based until regulations force a change. For the first time since 2021, ASCA’s survey ranked data collection as the most valuable EHR benefit, cited by 87% of users.
To lower that barrier, Leapfrog shortened the ASC survey relative to the hospital version and layered in two additional data sources: CMS measures that ASCs already report on a mandatory basis, and credit for facilities that submit proof of accreditation from one of two accrediting bodies.
“That is the amount of time it takes to fax a one-page document — that’s all the effort it requires,” Ms. Binder said. “We’ve been able to reduce the amount of work that an ASC has to do in order to publicly report to their community.”
Ms. Binder called the response a turning point.
“We do think this is a tipping point for transparency in healthcare,” she said. “This is an enormous response.”
ASCs can still submit data for the 2026 cycle through Nov. 30. Aug. 31 is the cutoff to be considered for Leapfrog’s top-performer awards.
At the Becker’s 32nd Annual Meeting: The Business and Operations of ASCs, taking place October 29-31 in Chicago, ASC leaders, surgeons and healthcare executives will explore strategies to drive growth, enhance operational performance, navigate reimbursement challenges and prepare for the future of ambulatory surgery. Apply for complimentary registration now.