Price increases much lower in ASCs than hospital outpatient departments

Editor's Note

For six outpatient surgical procedures, prices paid to ASCs grew in line with general medical prices, whereas prices paid to hospital outpatient departments for the same procedures climbed sharply, this study finds.

Private insurers paid ASCs considerably more than Medicare for the same procedures. Medicare pays ASCs a legislated percentage of what it pays hospitals, but there is a considerable discrepancy between this ratio and the ratio of payment by private insurers.

This finding questions the use of a single ratio for ASC payments to hospital outpatient payments, the authors say.

Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are freestanding facilities that provide services to patients who do not require an overnight stay. The number of ASCs has grown rapidly over the past fifteen years, as have the number of surgical procedures performed at them. ASCs now compete with hospital outpatient departments.