Tag: CMS

Medicare reimbursement, allowable procedures at forefront of ASC challenges

Leaders of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) can expect to continue facing challenges related to reimbursement even as they try to increase the kinds of procedures that can be performed in their facilities, say experts with the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA). Other key factors that will determine their future success…

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By: OR Manager
August 15, 2014
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CMS issues proposed hospital inpatient payment rule

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on April 30 issued its proposed rule that would update FY 2015 Medicare payment polices and rates for inpatient stays at general acute care and long-term care hospitals. The proposed rule will increase the payment rate to general acute care hospitals by…

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By: OR Manager
May 12, 2014
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ASCs face learning curve as quality reporting goes online

Computers and computer-driven devices have transformed the way healthcare is delivered, and use of the technology has led to greater efficiency, error reduction, and the ability to perform some previously impossible procedures. However, it is not always easy to incorporate computer tools into traditional activities such as quality tracking and…

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By: OR Manager
May 12, 2014
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Anticipate & educate to navigate murky healthcare reform waters

Anxiety over changes in healthcare delivery and payment systems has permeated hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs). Administrators are concerned about how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and other initiatives will hit the organization’s bottom line. Increasingly, perioperative services leaders are being drawn into discussions in these areas. “The OR…

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By: OR Manager
April 16, 2014
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Editorial

Until I heard Keith Siddel, PhDc, JD, MBA, CHC, speak at our OR Business Management Conference in February, I didn’t fully realize how much ICD-10 coding could disrupt billing and payment for services. Siddel, an attorney and healthcare finance expert based in Creede, Colorado, explained why providers should have been…

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By: OR Manager
April 16, 2014
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Be prepared for when surveyors come knocking

Nobody wants to come to work some morning and find a team of inspectors waiting. There is nothing like a surprise exam to make one nervous. Yet inspections are necessary—and not necessarily evil. Ambulatory surgery center (ASC) inspections are required for Medicare certification by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid…

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By: OR Manager
April 16, 2014
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CMS delays implementation of ASC-11

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will delay implementation of the new quality reporting measure ASC-11, Cataracts: Improvement in Patient’s Visual Function within 90 Days Following Cataract Surgery, until January 1, 2015. CMS intends to issue proposals regarding data collection for this measure in the upcoming 2015 proposed…

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By: OR Manager
April 16, 2014
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Decisions, decisions: Should you outsource coding to comply with ICD-10?

The primary function of an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) is simple and easily described: to perform surgery for which patients can be discharged within 24 hours, to do this efficiently, safely, and cost effectively, and to collect adequate, timely payment. The path to achieving these results is not so simple.…

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By: OR Manager
February 20, 2014
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Implementation period for outpatient payment rule cut short by CMS delays

Nearly a month past the statutory November 1, 2013 deadline, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its final 2014 hospital outpatient and ambulatory surgical center (ASC) payment rule, CMS-1601-FC. CMS published the rule in the December 10, 2013 Federal Register. The deadline for comments is January 27,…

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By: OR Manager
January 1, 2014
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Critics call quality report changes impractical, pay updates unfair

Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are asking the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to reconsider the next round of quality measures contained in the Calendar Year 2014 Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Proposed Rule and to revisit the payment update formula.   Quality Collaboration: Revise measures In a memorandum to…

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By: OR Manager
December 1, 2013
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