Here are three numbers leaving ASC leaders wary:
3.3: CMS' proposed physician fee schedule for 2024 suggests a 3.3 percent cut to the physician fee schedule conversion factor. Inflation is expected to increase 4.5 percent next year.
124,000: The overall shortage of physicians in the U.S. could reach 124,000 by 2034. Of those, up to 48,000 could be in primary care and 76,000 will be specialists, surgeons or hospitalists. These shortages will burden already burnt-out physicians and further affect access to care.
5: Even as the popularity of ASC procedures rises and the costs remain lower than hospital outpatient departments in most cases, hospital outpatient departments are still outpacing ASCs in the number of procedures performed of five common medical procedures: mammograms, colonoscopy screenings and diagnostic colonoscopies, ear tympanostomy, and clinic visits.