This year, ASCs can perform and be paid for hundreds of additional procedures.
JOINT SUPPLEMENT CMS will now pay for total hip replacements performed at ASCs.
CMS’s Outpatient Prospective Payment System and Ambulatory Surgical Center final rule, which took effect on January 1, further blurs the lines between inpatient and outpatient surgical care, as well as between ASCs and HOPDs within the outpatient sphere.
The big news is the gradual elimination of the inpatient-only procedure list. This year, CMS has removed a total of 298 mostly musculoskeletal procedures from that list, and now will pay for them in HOPD settings when clinically appropriate. By 2024, the remaining 1,400 or so procedures on the inpatient-only list will be removed. Read more