Setbacks
1. Medicare cuts for physicians. Even though Congress passed a temporary Medicare fee fix for physicians through November, Mr. Dougherty’s physicians worry that the automatic fee cut will come back to haunt them. However, they have not limited Medicare patients yet.
2. Need for a better EMR. The ASC piggybacks on to the practice’s electronic medical record system. This EMR system is not meant for an ASC. It can be used to transfer patients’ records to the ASC but it cannot handle patient flow in the ASC or supply management.
Celebrations
1. Volume has been rising. Total Pain Care has not seen a great loss of jobs in the recession. Also, more procedures have been migrating from the hospital to the center since the ASC opened in 2006. Implants are still done in the hospital because the ASC still has procedure room instead of a full-blown OR.
2. More procedures will be approved. Next year, CMS will add more procedures to the list that ASCs can perform opening the door to new opportunities for the surgery center.
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