Maryland adopted a process to make it easier for one-room ASCs to add an operating room or merge with another one-room ASC, according to law firm Gordon Feinblatt.
What you should know:
1. Under the process developed in 2018, existing physician outpatient surgery centers may be able to forgo certificate of need review to establish a two-OR ASC.
2. Maryland law historically didn't require a certificate of need for 1-OR ASCs, which resulted in a high number of those facilities.
3. The Maryland Health Care Commission can now grant exemptions in the following circumstances:
- Establishing an ASC with two ORs for one or more healthcare practitioners, or a group practice establishing a new ASC
- Expanding an existing physician outpatient surgery center
- Merging two separate physician outpatient surgery centers to create an ASC
4. The change could help one-room ASCs improve their utilization and efficiency by combining services with another facility.
5. Applicants proposing to establish an ASC must show the need for two ORs and that they can achieve optimal utilization of both within three years.
6. Applicants seeking to merge two existing physician outpatient surgery centers don't have to prove they utilize their current ORs at or above optimal capacity, but they must develop a charity care policy.
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