ASC Coding, Billing & Collections

Here are three major moves from payers that ASC leaders need to know: 

Being a private practice physician is a good fit for those looking to be their own boss and work with like-minded colleagues, the American Medical Association said in an April 3 blog post. 

Billings (Mont.) Clinic plans to cut $4.5 million monthly through cost-saving measures, including physician pay cuts up to 5 percent and suspensions of company contributions to employee retirement plans, MTN News reported March 31. 

AmSurg's more than 250 surgery centers are now in-network with Aetna after Envision Healthcare signed a multiyear deal with the insurer.

ASC average case mix largely remained stable from 2018 to 2022, according to VMG Health's"Multi-Specialty ASC Benchmarking Study" from 2018 and 2022.

As the healthcare industry shifts to value-based care models over traditional fee-for-service models, major players are making deals to facilitate that transition. 

Health spending in the U.S. jumped from $4.1 trillion in 2020 to $4.3 trillion in 2021, a 2.7 percent increase, according to a report from the American Medical Association.

Three big CMS moves have affected physician reimbursements in the last 10 years, according to VMG Health's 2023 mergers and acquisitions report released March 21:

From its reversal on the inpatient only list to removing procedures from the ASC-approved list, CMS seemingly has been erratic with its ASC policies. 

New York and Rhode Island consistently rank low on financial website WalletHub's annual list of worst states for physicians.