ASC Industry News

Check out these articles for some of the latest hot topics in ASC Industry News:

ASCs Must Offer Patients More Financing Options, BHG Chief Exec Says

The ASC payment landscape is changing rapidly, with more ASCs adopting patient financing options and price transparency policies Tyler Crawford, CEO of ASC and hospital patient financing partner BHG Patient Lending, shared his thoughts on the ASC payment landscape with Becker’s ASC Review.

Source: Becker’s ASC Review

Is Your ASC Financially Healthy? 3 Proven Techniques to Increase Revenue in 2020

ASCs deliver tremendous value to patients and payers alike. Operating profitably, however, in this era of thinning margins can be a challenge. In October, at Becker’s ASC Review 26th Annual Meeting in Chicago, Regent Surgical Health hosted a workshop to explore how ASCs can increase their revenues in 2020.

Source: Regents Surgical Health

Lower Costs Increase Hospitals’ Pursuit of Surgery Centers

Advocates for shoppable healthcare say that patients should look for ambulatory medical centers to avoid the higher prices found in hospitals, but hospitals are increasingly the owners of these centers. Over 40 percent of hospitals own an ambulatory surgery center, according to a survey from Texas-based Avanza Healthcare Strategies, a healthcare strategy firm, and 74 percent of hospitals are pursuing or looking for ambulatory surgery center expansion. The number of hospitals that own five to seven ambulatory surgery centers jumped seven percent in 2019.

Source: D CEO Healthcare

Healthcare Spending Up as CMS Continues Push for Hospital Price Transparency Rule

U.S. healthcare spending rose 4.6% in 2018 to $3.6 trillion, a rate that’s higher than in 2017 but near the same level as 2016. Healthcare spending didn’t grow as fast as the nation’s gross domestic product, so healthcare’s share of the economy fell from 17.9% to 17.7%, according to data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Office of the Actuary. The data, released annually, pointed to the increase brought on by the reinstatement of the Affordable Care Act’s Health Insurance Tax, which was not in effect for 2017.

Source: Scott E. Rupp Exclusive Multi-briefs

Protect Your Patients from Endophthalmitis

Though rare, post-cataract surgery or post-injection endophthalmitis can strike your patients no matter how careful your surgeons are. The results can be devastating: possible loss of vision and the eye itself. Check out this expert advice to minimize the risks from ophthalmologist Christina Weng, MD, MBA, of Baylor College of Medicine.

Source: Outpatient Surgery

FDA Clears First Fully Disposable Duodenoscope, Eliminating the Potential for Infections Caused by Ineffective Reprocessing

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today cleared for marketing in the U.S. the first fully disposable duodenoscope. The EXALT Model D Single-Use Duodenoscope is intended to provide visualization and access to the upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract to treat bile duct disorders and other upper GI problems.

Source: ASCA/FDA