Here are five notes on the growth of office-based procedures in 2025:
1. According to VMG Health’s “ASCs in 2024: A Year in Review” report, the shift of procedures to the office-based setting has been driven by advances in minimally invasive technologies and cost-containment strategies in ophthalmology, dermatology, pain management and minor orthopedic procedures.
2. Cataract removals and minor hand procedures were highlighted as procedures that are becoming more common in office-based settings due to “[s]treamlined protocols and reduced reliance on general anesthesia.”
3. This has ripple effects on the anesthesia industry, as technological advancements in pain management shift to the traditional role of anesthesiologists.
“The days of anesthesia being confined to the OR are fading,” Matthew Hulse, MD, chief of the division of critical care medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston told Becker’s. “As complex procedures shift into ASCs, office-based settings and other non-traditional environments, anesthesiologists will need to think like operational strategists — balancing efficiency, safety and logistics in ways we haven’t before. Those who embrace this shift and develop scalable systems to support it will thrive.”
4. Like ASCs, office-based procedures are reimbursed less than hospital outpatient departments by Medicare. This could change in the future as ASCs continue to fight to close the reimbursement gap between HOPDs and ASCs or other outpatient settings.
5. While office-based procedures are still regulated at the state level, some healthcare leaders voiced concerns over patient safety, as technological advances fuel a race to outpatient settings for some procedures.
“Currently only hospitals and ASCs are held to extremely rigorous licensing and ongoing accreditation standards to be able to provide patient care safely and with reproducible outcomes. There are no shortcuts,” Robert Nelson, PA-C, former executive director of Island Eye Surgicenter in Westbury, N.Y., told Becker’s. “Yet, there is a trend today to want to circumvent what has traditionally been a year’s protracted process and find a shortcut to being able to do surgery in an office. It is said that office-based surgery facilities could be a cost savings, but not when patient safety is potentially compromised. There cannot be different standards that ASCs must adhere to, that are bypassed for the office-based model.”