Oregon Legislature Passes Extended Stay Legislation

After five years of development and discussions, the Oregon Legislative Assembly passed House Bill 4020 unanimously. This bill creates a license for extended stay recovery centers where patients can have 48 hours to recover from the time of admission at the ASC, as compared to the 24-hour limitation for ASCs, says Chris D. Skagen, executive director of the Oregon Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (OASCA) and chief executive officer of Strategic Resources Group (SRG). The bill could save the Oregon Educators Benefit Board (OEBB) and the Public Employees Benefits Board (PEBB) $12-15 million, as the number of outpatient surgeries is expected to almost double in the next decade, Skagen say.

“The cost savings on Medicare patients will depend on how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS] handles the state request for an 1135 waiver. This could be a groundbreaking initiative that would place Oregon as the first state in the country to be able to demonstrate how much money Medicare can save by further utilizing outpatient services and an extended stay recovery center model,” Skagen adds.

For more information on Oregon HB 4020, contact Ali Legros-Murphy at alegros@ascassociation.org or Chris Skagen at cskagen@ascoregon.org

Source: ASCA