The Massachusetts Hospital Association has addressed regulations that would require surgery centers to obtain a "determination of need" before expanding, according to a Fierce Healthcare report.
The hospitals maintain the state needs the regulation to deter "uncontrolled growth" of ASCs throughout Massachusetts.
"In particular, the emergency amendments do not add any new requirements or restrictions on licensed ambulatory surgical centers, but rather codify existing guidelines that the Department uses in any DoN [determination of need] review," Anuj Goel, the Massachusetts Hospital Association vice president for legal and regulatory affairs, said in testimony to the Department of Public Health in February.
Mr. Goel added that he believes ASCs have been exempt from any licensure review to ensure their facilities are operated safetly and efficiently.
"The goal of these centers is to only treat the more profitable procedures now done in community hospitals," he said. "These procedures provide hospitals with desperately needed funds to support less well-reimbursed services, including those covered by MassHealth, the Health Safety Net, and other public programs. A patient having hernia surgery in a glistening, new surgical center today, may find that when they are having a heart attack tomorrow their local hospital Emergency Department has been shuttered for lack of funds. It is also important to know that free-standing, multi-specialty Ambulatory Surgery Centers are not looking to open in financially depressed communities. They are, however, opening in affluent suburbs where patients have private insurance with good coverage options."
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The hospitals maintain the state needs the regulation to deter "uncontrolled growth" of ASCs throughout Massachusetts.
"In particular, the emergency amendments do not add any new requirements or restrictions on licensed ambulatory surgical centers, but rather codify existing guidelines that the Department uses in any DoN [determination of need] review," Anuj Goel, the Massachusetts Hospital Association vice president for legal and regulatory affairs, said in testimony to the Department of Public Health in February.
Mr. Goel added that he believes ASCs have been exempt from any licensure review to ensure their facilities are operated safetly and efficiently.
"The goal of these centers is to only treat the more profitable procedures now done in community hospitals," he said. "These procedures provide hospitals with desperately needed funds to support less well-reimbursed services, including those covered by MassHealth, the Health Safety Net, and other public programs. A patient having hernia surgery in a glistening, new surgical center today, may find that when they are having a heart attack tomorrow their local hospital Emergency Department has been shuttered for lack of funds. It is also important to know that free-standing, multi-specialty Ambulatory Surgery Centers are not looking to open in financially depressed communities. They are, however, opening in affluent suburbs where patients have private insurance with good coverage options."
Related Articles on ASC Legislation:
Funding for Connecticut's Drug Database to End This Year
CMS Moves Forward With Data Reporting Requirement for ASCs
Massachusetts Could Regulate Reimbursement Rates for Physicians, Hospitals