ASC reform legislation: Where it stands almost 1 year later

Becker's Healthcare November 30, 2023
Claire Wallace

In February, four lawmakers reintroduced legislation to increase Medicare beneficiaries’ access to affordable outpatient surgical care, known as the Outpatient Surgery Quality and Access Act.

The legislation aims to close reimbursement gaps between hospital outpatient departments and ASCs and increase CMS’ transparency when it comes to ASC data.

Now, almost a year later, the bill has remained stagnant in Congress, despite having bipartisan support.

Since being introduced in the House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees, the legislation seems to have made few gains.

Here are six additional things to know about what the legislation would entail for practices and providers:

1. The bill would permanently align CMS’ update factors to move to a...