ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The Federated Ambulatory Surgery Association (FASA) announces that the Texas Workers’ Compensation Commission (TWCC) is considering revisions to its fee schedule for ASCs that went into affect Sept. 1, 2004. The TWCC released a pre-proposal draft of changes to the ASC fee schedule and is accepting comments through Nov. 10, 2004 on draft amendments that would take effect March 1, 2005.
Proposed changes include:
• The reimbursement rate would increase to 250 percent from 213.3 percent of Medicare’s ASC rates.
• Implants when allowed by Medicare would be reimbursed at invoice cost with any tax & shipping plus the lesser of $250 or 10 percent of invoice.
• Procedures not on the Medicare ASC list can be reimbursed via pre-authorization.
In response to feedback received from TWCC’s previous request for further comments on implants and procedures that were not included in its fee schedule, the TWCC developed a focus group to analyze the concerns. A representative of FASA was appointed to the focus group. The proposed changes stem from the group’s discussions.
This draft has not yet been submitted to the TWCC commissioners and could change prior to formal proposal and official publication. Comments will be accepted until close of business on Wednesday, Nov. 10 by email to ascfeeguideline@twcc.state.tx.us.
Interested parties are requested to send FASA a copy of their comments. A copy of the pre-proposal draft is available at www.twcc.state.tx.us/rules/drafts/asc/asc_pre-proposal_draft.html or by contacting Kris Savard at (703) 836.8808 or ksavard@fasa.org.
Source: FASA