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EDITOR'S PAGE
economics pushing patients out of the lower-cost surgical environment and
back into more costly HOPDs. Yes, apparently it's possible to chase the
money and chase your tail at the same time.
Attorney Michael Romansky, the vice president for corporate development for
the Outpatient Ophthalmic Surgery Society, did the math for cataracts. Each
cataract case performed in an ASC instead of an HOPD saves Medicare and the
beneficiary more than $700. Nearly 2 million cataract cases are performed yearly.
Performing cataract surgery in the ASC saves hundreds of millions of healthcare
dollars.
• Flipping ASCs to HOPDs. What's the hot new acquisition trend in surgery? Why, it's hospitals snapping up ASCs and converting them to HOPD status for one reason and one reason only. Conferring HOPD status on a surgical
center lets a hospital charge significantly more for the same services delivered to the same beneficiaries. (As a bonus, hospitals get to re-employ many
of the same surgeons who jilted them years ago to build their surgical centers.)
We have CMS to thank for this mess. Meanwhile, the OIG says it's concerned that hospitals may be acquiring ASCs to secure the higher Medicare
rates paid for outpatient services performed in hospital-owned surgical centers. Do you think?
We'll leave you with this: At a time when the outpatient surgery market is expanding, the number of ASCs is dwindling. Chase the money. Chase your tail. OSM
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O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | N O V E M B E R 2012
