Many ASCs have voiced support for site neutrality, which would create parity between ASC and hospital reimbursements, yet has been met with pushback from hospitals.
Here are seven recent developments in the ongoing debate surrounding site neutrality:
1. On Nov. 1., Sens. Bill Cassidy, MD, R-La., and Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., published a paper advocating site-neutral payments and outlining how the policy would reduce healthcare costs for patients.
2. The senators argued that these policies could improve the financial stability of Medicare, reduce consolidation and help rural hospitals working with high-need communities.
3. "While many factors drive health spending, rising healthcare costs have in part resulted from an increase in consolidation among hospitals and outpatient care settings — such as physician offices and ambulatory centers," said the paper.
4. Hospital groups, including the American Hospital Association, argue that this framework would limit critical hospital-based care, increasing wait times while decreasing care access.
5. "It is irresponsible to think that clawing back up to $140 billion of Medicare spending for seniors won't destabilize access to care," AHA Executive Vice President Stacey Hughes said in a statement. "Rather than addressing the root causes driving physician acquisitions, this instead proposes dramatic and untenable Medicare cuts, reducing seniors' access to critical hospital-based care."
6. The AHA and the Federation of American Hospitals have continued to echo these sentiments while urging Congress to address decreasing reimbursements, care delays and denials by commercial insurers.
7. Medicare rates for ASCs are, on average, 50% of what HOPDs receive for the same services, according to the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association.