AAASC Develops Calculator to Forecast the Impact of the New Medicare ASC Payment System

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- The American Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers (AAASC) has developed a comprehensive Web-based resource center to support understanding and implementation of the new Medicare ASC payment system. Now available at no charge is an analytical tool to allow owners and operators of ambulatory surgery centers to calculate the Medicare payment they will be receive beginning in 2008 and forecast through 2011. Of note, this tool is a forecast based on the most up-to-date information from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which may change in the final rule expected this fall.

The following features are included in the AAASC Medicare ASC Payment Calculator:

-- Payments for current procedures, new procedures, device related procedures

-- Searchable by CPT or HCPCS

-- Adjustment for local wage

-- Conversion Factor Adjustment (65 percent currently proposed)

-- Forecast for 2008 through 2011

-- The specific lists that CMS provided for covered ancillary procedures, procedures with higher device payment, etc.

-- The detailed "analytic files" that CMS used to calculate ASC payment rates

-- Frequently asked questions and answers

For details, go to: http://www.aaasc.org/CMSPaymentRules/

Source: American Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers