Here are three legislative changes taking hold in the healthcare industry for ASC leaders to note:
The California 'surprise medical bill' impacting surgery centers
In 2016, California Governor Jeffery Brown signed Assembly Bill 72. The legislation places a cap on the amount out-of-network surgeons and other providers can bill patients for covered non-emergency services that ASCs and other facilities offer. Under the law, ASCs and other facilities have to bill enrollees the same cost-sharing amount the enrollee would pay a contracted professional for the same service.
CMS cancels cardiac bundles, scales back CJR model
CMS issued a proposed rule that would cancel the mandatory bundled payment program for heart attacks and bypass surgeries and the cardiac rehabilitation payment model. The proposed rule would eliminate mandatory bundling for hip and femur fracture treatment under the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement program.
Republicans healthcare bill defeated for 3rd time
Republican attempts to pass a "skinny" ACA repeal bill failed after Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted against it. The "skinny" repeal would have eliminated the ACA's individual and employer mandates. It also would have temporarily repealed the medical device tax.