CMS is floating a 3.34 percent conversion factor decrease in its proposed Medicare physician fee schedule, and some ASC leaders are worried about the effect this decrease will have on the industry.
Three ASC leaders joined Becker's to discuss how declining physician pay could affect the industry.
Question: How will declining physician pay affect the ASC industry?
Editor's note: These responses were edited lightly for length and clarity.
Paula Autry. CEO of Leadership DNAmics (Grass Lake, Mich.): The looming CMS physician pay cuts could have varying effects on the ASC industry. I have always been impressed with the resiliency of health professionals, and I am confident that the health industry will respond to the current pressures to evolve to an improved delivery system. Declining physician pay, combined with higher costs, will affect the entire industry. Related to ASCs, it may cause physicians to seek employment with health systems and/or reconsider investment in ASCs. ASCs will likely continue to increase given that they can assist with hospital capacity issues, and they remain a high value alternative to inpatient surgery when appropriate.
Les Jebson. Regional Administrator at Prisma Health (Greenville, S.C.): CMS and some commercial payer changes may create some cost pressures, but I do not believe it is immediately impacting physician compensation. Typically, ASCs have very linear services that they provide. By providing high-volume repetitive procedures, the ASC setting may allow for greater efficiencies and throughput, which in turn can negate reductions in some payer rates. Independent physician groups with joint ventures may recognize these declines more than those in larger integrated care delivery systems.
Kipling Sharpe, MD. Physician at OrthoArizona (Gilbert, Ariz.): Increasing physician employment by hospitals limits the number of physicians who can use ASCs, which in turn drives up healthcare costs.