CMS has proposed increasing Medicare reimbursements to ambulatory surgery centers by 0.9 percent starting next year.
Currently, there are about 5,000 Medicare-certified ASCs that receive payments from the federal government. CMS projects a 0.9 percent boost will increase overall Medicare payments to ASCs by $133 million, or 3.5 percent compared with 2013. Total Medicare payments to ASCs in 2014 are projected to be $3.98 billion.
CMS arrived at its 0.9 percent figure by taking the consumer price index for all urban consumers, or CPI-U, and adjusting for other productivity factors. For 2014, the CPI-U is expected to be 1.4 percent, but a productivity adjustment subtracted 0.5 percent from that total.
CMS also proposed four quality measures from the ASC quality reporting program. Those proposed measures will impact payments in 2016 but will be collected starting next year.
CMS will accept public comments until Sept. 6, and a final rule will be published Nov. 1. To view the proposed rule on ASC Medicare payments for next year, click here.
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