New Survey Underscores ASC's Pivotal Role in Cost-Effective Healthcare

A new study commissioned by the ASC Coalition and conducted by health economics and policy firm KNG Health Consulting finds that ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) play a pivotal role in moving services into less expensive yet clinically appropriate settings. The study, which examined the growth in the number of ASCs between 2000 and 2007, not only demonstrates the role ASCs have played in moving surgical services into less expensive settings, it also disproves two factors that critics of the ASC industry have suggested may offset the cost-reducing effects of the relatively low Medicare payment rates for ASCs. Detractors have charged that physicians who own ASCs have a financial incentive to perform more surgical services than they would if they could only provide outpatient surgical services in a HOPD, and that the expansion of outpatient surgical capacity in ASCs may lead to a higher overall volume of outpatient surgery. The study found no statistical evidence that ASCs cause an increase in utilization of common Medicare procedures like colonoscopies and cataract surgery; in fact, it shows that 70 percent of the growth in ASCs in this time period is the result of moving procedures from HOPDs into the more cost-effective ASC setting.

ASC Association chair Alsie Sydness-Fitzgerald, CASC, says the study underscores what those in the industry already know. “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, top-notch patient care and cost-effective alternative they offer. This research confirms what we have known for a long time.

Richard E. Francis, Jr., chair of the ASC Coalition and chief executive officer and director of Symbion, notes, “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.”

Francis says that other key conclusions that can be drawn from the research findings include:

• 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.
• The healthcare reform objectives articulated by Congress and the Administration that promote efficient use of health services and improve the value of Medicare spending are inextricably linked to promoting the use of ASCs for beneficiaries’ outpatient surgical needs.