Ambulatory Surgery Centers NAICS 621493

Mar 2, 2026 - ACA Proposal Could Shift Costs To Enrollees

• The Trump administration’s proposed new rules for Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans would shift more health care costs to Americans in 2027, according to The New York Times. The plans would have much higher deductibles that could lead to larger medical bills. People who rely on the Affordable Care Act for their health insurance coverage could choose plans with much lower monthly premiums under the proposal but that could leave them exposed to medical expenses totaling thousands of dollars more than current ACA plans do before their insurance would kick in, according to The New York Times. The proposal would allow one kind of health plan to raise the annual deductible to more than $15,000 for an individual and $31,000 for a family. The individual deductible would be eight times the average for someone with employer-provided insurance.
• About 92% of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are wholly or partially owned by physicians, according to Colliers’ Q3 2025 Healthcare Services report. Private equity has re-emerged as a key financial player in the sector. Investment volumes that decreased to $12 billion during the COVID-19 pandemic rebounded to $19.7 billion in 2024 and reached $18.9 billion in the first half of 2025. Private equity activity spans direct ownership of ASCs through joint ventures with physicians and health systems.

• A structural reimbursement crisis affecting hospitals would only get worse if more site-neutral payment policies are enacted to allow ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) to be paid as much as hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs) receive for performing identical procedures, according to the American Hospital Association (AHA). Hospitals have a higher cost structure than independent physician offices (IPOs) and ASCs due in part to the costs of standby capability and capacity, according to the AHA. This standby role is built into the cost structure of hospitals and supported by revenue from direct patient care — a situation that does not exist for any other type of provider. HOPDs aren’t simply same-day surgical centers for health systems, according to the AHA. They also provide complex cancer, infectious disease, mental health and other services — and therefore should not be paid the same Medicare rate as standalone physician offices.
• Ambulatory surgery center industry employment decreased slightly and average wages for nonsupervisory employees increased moderately during the first eight months of 2025, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Ambulatory surgery centers sales are forecast to grow at a 5.75% compounded annual rate from 2025 to 2028, faster than the growth of the overall economy, according to Inforum and the Interindustry Economic Research Fund.