Like their hospital and physician practice counterparts, ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are feeling a financial pinch. Or are they? So far, the effects of the recession have manifested in different ways for ASCs, and hard data on nationwide trends are hard to find. "It's too early to tell," Cathy Head,…

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Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are about to find themselves more deeply connected with the communities they serve than ever before. Under the latest Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) rule setting out conditions for coverage, ASCs must join their hospital colleagues in publishing disaster preparedness plans. The Medicare rule,…

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Ambulatory surgery centers (ASC) are gearing up to comply with the newly revised Medicare Conditions for Coverage (CfCs). The revised conditions, issued Oct 30, 2008, are effective May 18, 2009. ASCs accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Healthcare (AAAHC) are also preparing to meet its 2009 standards, which have…

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First part of a 2-part series. Is your ambulatory surgery center (ASC) having claims denied? Are you missing out on revenue or opening yourself to compliance risks because of coding problems? Top ASC coding and billing problems Unbundling Separate procedures Upcoding and undercoding Diagnosis coding issues Proper modifier usage Claim…

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Health care is not shy about adopting new technology when it comes to the latest generation of computed tomography, linear accelerators for cancer treat-ment, or other scientific innovations. Yet in their business functions, facilities have been reluctant to invest in information technology such as electronic medical records (EMR) and purchasing…

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When a surgical procedure includes a biopsy, the tissue specimen goes to a laboratory for analysis, and the result comes back to the physician. That much is clear, wherever the surgery took place. What happens next, however, can be a mystery in the context of an ambulatory surgery center (ASC).…

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Here comes the 10th patient of the day, out of the operating room and into the postanesthesia care unit (PACU). Quick: Does she have any allergies? What medications has she received? And is that her daughter in the waiting room? Even in the smaller setting of an ambulatory surgery center…

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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) published the long-awaited final revision of the ambulatory surgery center (ASC) conditions for coverage (CfCs) on Oct 30, 2008. The CfCs spell out the rules for ASCs participating in Medicare. They were issued as part of a larger rule that includes updates…

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Estimated ASC payment change by specialty Percent change from 2008 rates at blended rate. Source: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Medicare issued its final 2009 policies and payment rates for ambulatory surgery centers (ASC) Oct 30, 2008. The changes issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)…

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Two things are true about information technology: It is critical for organizations to succeed, or even survive, and it is expensive. For one small ambulatory surgery center (ASC) striving to meet financial and growth objectives, ingenuity proved to be the answer. At The Center for Special Surgery at Texas Center…

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