Payments, preferences and policies affect the viability of outpatient spine services.
Four things to know:
1. Reimbursement for lumbar spine fusion varies among care settings.
- Inpatient: $26,190
- Hospital outpatient department: $10,617
- ASC: $5,070
- HOPD and ASC reimbursement gap: $5,547
2. Respondents to Healthcare Appraisers' 2019 ASC Valuation Survey ranked spine and neurosurgery as the second and third most desirable case types, respectively, at ASCs, behind orthopedics.
3. The migration of cases from acute care settings to ASCs may be changing how medical device companies approach implant contracting.
4. Injection of transforaminal epidural into the lumbar sacral spine is among the top five most common procedures performed at ASCs, behind cataract implants, eye injections and major joint injections.