ASCs Taking Market Share Away From HOPDs

Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASC) provided services to 70% of the growth in Medicare services between 2000 and 2007, thus capturing market share from hospital outpatient departments (HOPD) to less expensive ASC setting.  This was according to KNG Health Consulting, who conducted a comprehensive study of the growth factors for ASCs.

Factors that contributed to this growth was the “payers incentives to pay for care in a the most cost-effective setting, demographic changes, and consumer and physician preferences.” Patients too seem to prefer ASCs as their copayments are lower, the wait time is shorter, the ease of scheduling and the convenient locations of surgery centers. Physicians prefer ASCs due to shorter turnaround times, able to do more with increased productivity, better control of staff decisions, and more involved with equipment selection decisions. If an owner, physician also benefits from income generated from ownership.

Interesting enough, ASCs saw the average price of procedures fall by 11% between 2000 and 2007. Therefore, Medicare paid much less for procedures performed during this period as growth in Medicare cases increase, yet average price decreased.

Welcome to Cataract Outsourcing

Cataract surgery has made extraordinary and exciting advances over the past 20 years. Last year, approximately 2.7 million Americans underwent cataract surgery. Greater than 95% of those patients now enjoy improved vision. State-of-the-art cataract surgery is a safe, effective, and comfortable procedure performed almost exclusively on an outpatient basis.

Most cataract surgeries are now performed using microscopic size incisions, advanced ultrasonic equipment to fragment cataracts into tiny fragments, and foldable intraocular lenses (IOLs) to maintain small incision size. Cataract surgery today is the result of extraordinary technological and surgical advancements that allows millions of people to once again enjoy crisp and clear vision. A true marvel of modern medicine, cataract surgery may restore vision to levels you may have never thought possible.