The Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA) recently shared an analysis conducted by KNG Health Consulting that shows ambulatory surgery centers (ASC) have saved Medicare billions of dollars. Between 2019 and 2024, procedures performed in ASCs compared to hospitals saved Medicare $27.9 billion.
“This analysis confirms that surgery centers are a vital and cost-effective site of service for Medicare beneficiaries,” said ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice. “The magnitude of savings generated by ASCs should be an essential data point for policymakers and regulators when considering policies related to outpatient surgery.”
The analysis of Medicare claims shows that ASCs saved the Medicare program $4.46 billion in 2019. Despite a slight decline in savings due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, savings rebounded and rose steadily to $5.10 billion in 2024. Overall, performance of procedures in ASCs saved Medicare approximately $43.2 billion in the 10-year period of 2015–2024.
Methodology
For each year from 2019 to 2024, KNG Health analyzed Medicare’s Standard Analytic Files (SAF) to determine an average payment amount at the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System (HCPCS) code level in both the ASC and hospital outpatient department (HOPD) settings. The KNG Health analysts also used the 2019–2024 SAFs to identify ASC volume for each year at the HCPCS code level. ASC savings per procedure is defined as the difference between the HOPD average payment minus the ASC average payment. ASC savings per year was estimated by multiplying the ASC volume per procedure by the ASC savings per procedure. Estimates were calculated for Medicare Fee-for-Service only.
For more information and details on savings by year, code groups and more, visit ASCA’s Medicare Savings From Use of Ambulatory Surgery Centers webpage.
