ASC Industry News

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

Study Finds Fewer Adverse Events After Treatment at ASCs vs. HOPDs

Patients treated in an ASC are less likely to be admitted to a hospital or visit an emergency room in a short period after outpatient surgery, according to an independent study published in the Journal of Health Economics. The study compared ASCs and HOPDs on two quality of care measures: inpatient admission and ER visits on the same day, seven or 30 days after an outpatient procedure.

Source: AAAASF/Becker’s ASC

Prevalence of Regional Anesthesia Use in Outpatient Surgery

Though the overall frequency of peripheral nerve block use in outpatient surgery is low, regional anesthesia offers significant positive effects for postoperative outcomes and hospital efficiency metrics, this study finds. Of 12,911,056 outpatient surgical procedures in the National Anesthesia Clinical Outcomes Registry, 25.5% were amenable to a peripheral nerve block.

Source: OR Manager

Report: HCA, PE Giant Eyeing Envision

Hospital titan HCA Healthcare reportedly has partnered with one of the biggest names in private equity to make a buyout bid for Envision Healthcare, the company home to surgery center operator AmSurg and physician services giant EmCare.  Reuters wrote last Friday that HCA executives are teaming up with KKR & Co.—the former Kohlberg Kravis Roberts—to take over Envision and then split the company back into its two divisions, with HCA keeping the surgery centers.

Source: ASCA/Nashville Post

CMS Unveils Enhanced ‘Drug Dashboards’ to Increase Transparency on Drug Prices

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a redesigned version of the Drug Spending Dashboards. For the first time, the dashboards include year-over-year information on drug pricing and highlight which manufactures have been increasing their prices.

Source: ASCA/CMS

US Senate Passes Veterans Health Care Reform

The US Senate passed the VA MISSION Act of 2018 (H.R. 5674) on a vote of 92-5. The $52 billion legislation will sunset the Veterans Choice Program in twelve months and combine all non-VA provider programs into one Veterans Community Care Program. Critically, the bill also requires that non-VA provider claims be reimbursed in 30-45 days. ASCA previously endorsed this language, as it was included in the Veterans Deserve Better Act (H.R. 4783/S. 2239) early in 2018. President Donald Trump is expected to sign the VA MISSION Act into law in the next few days.

ASCA published a press release to recognize passage of this important legislation. For more information on veterans health care, visit our website or email Jeff Evans at jevans@ascassociation.org.

Source: ASCA

Strategies to Improve Collection of Patient Financial Responsibility

Patients’ financial responsibility for their healthcare is on the rise and showing no signs of slowing down. Long gone are the days of $25 co-pays and $250 deductibles. A TransUnion Healthcare analysis showed that patients experienced an 11 percent increase in average out-of-pocket costs during 2017, rising from $1,630 in the last quarter of 2016 to $1,813 in the last quarter of 2017.

Source: Becker’s ASC Review