Like many small businesses, ASCs took financial hits at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. For many centers, relief from stimulus packages helped them stay afloat and return to normal volumes by summertime.
ASC News
Financial decline and contract expiration were two reasons for ASC closures in the first quarter of 2021.
The Florida legislature passed a law March 29 to provide legal shields for healthcare providers, including ASCs, against COVID-19 liability claims, the National Law Review reported April 9.
Leapfrog Group and AARP are currently advocating for Congress to pass a policy requiring ASCs to report their COVID-19 infection rates on an ongoing basis.
When hospitals began canceling and postponing elective surgeries to focus on COVID-19 patients in early 2020, many surgery centers limited capacity or temporarily closed their doors to keep patients safe and redirect resources to the hospital.
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The federal government has charged a Colorado physician with misappropriating thousands of dollars in COVID-19 relief funds from his practice for personal use.
A South Carolina physician and members of his family died from gunshot wounds April 7, according to a report from WCNC Charlotte, an NBC affiliate.
The Trump administration championed competition in healthcare that benefited ASCs and accelerated the migration of more procedures from hospitals to surgery centers. Will the current administration continue these efforts and support physician ownership?
Severe cases of COVID-19, including long-term symptoms, had Lisa Weindel, administrator at St. Louis-based Center for Urologic Surgery, reassessing patient risk. The pandemic also caused her center to take a less budget-friendly approach to supply chain management.
In 2019, ASCs that were certified by Medicare treated 3.5 million beneficiaries. The data in this list comes from the MedPAC 2021 Report to Congress, Avanza and VMG Health Intellimarker.