The ASC market showed significant growth in the two years before the pandemic, according to the 2021 report to Congress released by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission March 15.
Four takeaways from the report, which covered 2019, the most recent data available:
1. In 2019, 226 new Medicare-certified ASCs opened in the U.S., following 230 new ASCs opening the year before. The number of new ASCs was up 18 percent in 2019 from 2014, when there were 191 new ASCs.
2. There were 17,848 operating rooms added to ASCs in 2019, and the average number of operating rooms per facility hit 3.1.
3. Eight-four ASCs closed or merged in 2019, down from 103 in 2018 and 126 in 2013.
4. The volume of ASC services per fee-for-service Medicare beneficiary was up 1.8 percent in 2019 over 2018.