ASC Quality & Access Act of 2013 introduced in House.
Congressmen Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and John Larson (D-Conn.) have introduced the Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality and Access Act of 2013 in the House of Representatives. The bills propose to transition reimbursement for ASCs to the hospital market basket update from the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, create value-based purchasing for ASCs, include an ASC presence in the Advisory Panel on Hospital Outpatient Payment and require CMS to disclose the criteria used to deny procedures from being performed in ASCs.
Medicare pays $3.4B to ASCs in 2011.
In 2011, Medicare paid ambulatory surgery centers $3.4 billion in payments and beneficiaries’ cost sharing. In 2006, ASCs received $2.8 billion from Medicare.
AMA calls for 2-year reprieve from ICD-10 code payment denials.
The American Medical Association’s House of Delegates has created a policy that calls for a two-year period of implementation for ICD-10 or ICD-11. The AMA supports federal legislation that prohibits payers from denying payment based on ICD-10 or ICD-11 diagnosis specificity for two years.
Congressman James Lankford praises Surgery Center of Oklahoma.
Congressman James Lankford (R-Okla.) praised Surgery Center of Oklahoma during a recent U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing. Surgery Center of Oklahoma posts the prices for its multispecialty procedures on its website.
Improved outpatient care may not have significant impact on healthcare costs.
Improving outpatient care to limit the number of acute care visits may not result in a substantial impact on healthcare costs. The results of a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggest that a focus on chronic disease management and inpatient visit prevention alone will not significantly lower healthcare costs.
First Surgical Partners considers becoming private.
Ambulatory surgery center and acute-care hospital company First Surgical Partners is considering a transaction that would transition the company into a private setting. The company would no longer be a public reporting company and its shares would not be traded on any exchange or quotation system.
67% of orthopedic surgeons underestimate implant costs.
A study published in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research found that 67 percent of orthopedic surgeons underestimate the cost of implants, while 33 percent overestimate the cost.
More Articles on ASC Issues:
20 Most Frequently Performed Medicare Surgical Services in ASCs
What an ASC Needs to Do Before Selecting an EMR: Q&A With Charles Immordino of Ambulatory Surgery Center Consultants
8 Keys to Keeping Surgery Centers a Profitable Business
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