CMS is analyzing several procedures currently on the ASC payable list to determine whether to keep them there, the Washington Post reports.
Here's what you should know:
1. CMS is proposing to review whether 38 procedures added to the ASC list of allowable procedures should remain on that list. Twenty-five of those procedures involve spine surgery.
2. Ambulatory Surgery Center Association Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice, said, "The more resources they use, the better. I think that the more data points they have, the more likely they are to make the right decision. … We believe these procedures can be performed very safely in the ASC space."
3. The agency indicates that it will base its final decision about whether to continue to reimburse ASCs for providing these procedures on outcomes data, prevailing medical practice and public comments.
4. CMS also reviewed public comment when it first allowed for ASCs to perform these procedures on Medicare patients.