At its meeting this Thursday (Jan. 13), MedPAC is expected to approve a modest increase in Medicare ASC payment of about 1.0 percent for ASCs for 2012, according to Marian Lowe of the Ambulatory Surgery Center Advocacy Committee.
Ms. Lowe said the advocacy committee and its partner, the ASC Association, are also anticipating a proposed rule from CMS this year to implement quality reporting in ASCs, which would likely require ASCs to report data on quality measures to the agency to receive their full inflationary update in 2012.
In addition, HHS is expected to release a report on the design of a potential value-based purchasing program for ASCs that would reward providers for attaining high quality scores or improving their performance. In a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in Aug. 2010, the Advocacy Committee urged HHS to design a program that brings additional dollars into the ASC payment system to fund the rewards.
Learn more about the Ambulatory Surgery Center Advocacy Committee.
Read more about the ASC industry:
- 10 Key Trends for Surgery Centers in 2011
- 5 Reasons for ASCs to Be Optimistic About 2011
- 15 ASC Industry Executives Who Assumed New Roles in 2010