Report Details Positive Contribution of ASCs to Health Care Reform Goals
Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) play a pivotal role in moving services into less expensive yet clinically appropriate settings, concludes a study issued by the independent health economics and policy firm KNG Health Consulting.
"For some time, the ASC community has maintained that the key reasons ASCs are in such high demand with physicians and their patients are the high-quality surgical services, topnotch patient care and cost-effective alternative they offer," said ASC Association Chair Alsie Sydness-Fitzgerald, CASC. "This research confirms what we have known for a long time. This study clearly shows that policies that support ASCs should be a part of any health care reform plans the current Congress and Administration adopt."
"With this study, we now have the data we need to conclusively demonstrate that ASCs have long been playing a critical role in meeting America's surgical needs," said Richard E. Francis, Jr., chair of the ASC Coalition, an organization of ASC associations and companies that commissioned the study, and chief executive officer and director of Symbion, an ASC management and development company.
Some of the important conclusions that can be drawn from the research findings, adds Francis, include that ASCs have been a beneficial partner to Medicare and its beneficiaries in constraining spending growth by providing a lower-priced option for outpatient surgical needs. And further, the health care reform objectives articulated by the US Congress and the Administration — promoting efficient use of services in the health care system and improving the value of Medicare's spending — are inextricably linked to promoting the use of ASCs for beneficiaries' outpatient surgical needs.
Taken together, the research suggests that public policies promoting the expansion of ASC capacity have helped ensure access to essential surgical and cancer screening services at a savings to the Medicare program and its beneficiaries and should be an important contribution to achieving health care reform goals.
Key Findings
- ASCs are essential Medicare providers of surgical and cancer screening services.
- 70% of the growth in Medicare services provided by ASCs between 2000 and 2007 is the result of moving procedures from hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs) into the less expensive ASC setting.
- For gastrointestinal and ophthalmology services — two major types of services ASCs provide — 75% and 94% of the growth, respectively, in ASC services over the study period is from the migration of services into the less expensive ASC setting.
- Unlike what some critics suggest, ASCs do not result in a higher overall surgical volume.
