ASCA

Since the first of January, ASCs and hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs) that provide care to Medicare patients have been operating under new payment rules the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized last November.

Economists and health care professionals agree that most of these problems are not likely to go away soon. Our best chance to turn these situations around is for everyone in health care to come together to design and support multifaceted, long-term solutions and participate in public-private partnerships to make them work.

Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) looking to grow as well as physicians and others interested in opening a new ASC received encouraging news this summer.

During ASCA’s annual conference in Dallas this year, the association recognized two physicians with its 2022 Nap Gary Award for Lifetime Achievement in the ASC Community: Thomas M. Deas Jr., MD, and Peter Daly, MD. Both men exemplify the long-standing dedication to the ASC community, leadership qualities and high moral and ethical standards the award was created to recognize. Each also contributed in unique ways to advancing the ASC care model.

May is a good month for ASCs to take stock of their overall operations and consider any adjustments they might want to make to be certain they end the year stronger than they started it. ASCA offers a range of resources to help. All are developed specifically for ASCs.

During the pandemic, ASCs were a model of resiliency and emergency preparedness. They adapted quickly to new conditions imposed by the virus and were able to resume providing safe, high-quality outpatient surgery almost immediately after the virus was identified.