The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule yesterday revising the payment system for services furnished to people with Medicare in ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs). The system was revised to better align payments for similar services furnished in a hospital outpatient department (HOPD) or a physician’s office. CMS also issued a proposed rule that would update Medicare payment for services in HOPDs under the outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) and would set new payment rates for ASCs under the revised system effective for services in CY08.
The ASC final rule expands beneficiary access to surgical procedures in ASCs and implements steps to make ASC payments more accurate. CMS expects to make payments of almost $3 billion in CY08 to the approximately 4,600 ASCs that participate in Medicare.
The final rule also adds about 790 procedures for ASC payment beginning in CY08. The proposed OPPS/ASC rule would add several additional procedures, which would result in approximately 3,300 covered surgical procedures under the revised ASC payment system.
The proposed rule includes a 3.3 percent inflation update in Medicare payment rates for services paid under the OPPS for CY08. CMS projects that hospitals would receive $34.9 billion in CY08 for outpatient services furnished to Medicare beneficiaries under the proposed rule.
Comments on the proposed rule will be accepted until Sept. 14.
