MedPAC will recommend revisions to ASC payments

The Medicare Payment Advisory Committee will recommend to Congress that the system of determining payments to ambulatory surgery centers be revised, according to reports from lobbying organizations.

MedPAC, a committee that advises Congress on Medicare payment issues, met last week to determine whether to accept recommendations on ambulatory surgery centers. Among the debated issues were the payment update rates for ASC services for fiscal year 2005, the American Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers (AAASC) said in a press release.

The committee decided to recommend that Secretary of Health and Human Services revise the ASC payment system so it is more in line with payments to hospital outpatient departments, according to a press release from the Outpatient Ophthalmic Surgery Society. In addition, MedPAC said it will recommend that a conversion factor be developed to reflect the costs of procedures performed in ASCs, the OOSS press release said. And MedPAC will recommend that the current list of procedures approved for ASCs be scrapped and replaced.

ASC service payment updates averaged only 1.88% per year between 1991 and 2002, the AAASC asserted. Comparatively, the hospital market averaged nearly 3% yearly increases in the past 8 years.

MedPAC staff “relied considerably on ASC growth statistics, and asserted that recent growth in the number of ASCs is attributable to payment rates that exceed costs,” the AAASC noted. Numerous factors affected the growth rate of ASCs during the time in question, including a burgeoning market.

Both the AAASC and OOSS took credit for working toward these changes with MedPAC staff.