Ambulatory Surgery Centers NAICS 621493

May 1, 2025 - Hospital Association Opposes Site-neutral payment Policies

• 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.
• Certificate-of-Need (CON) laws, which restrict construction and/or expansion of healthcare facilities, may have reduced access to medical care, according to the CATO Institute. CON laws, which are in place in 35 states, require hospitals, nursing homes, ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs), and other healthcare providers to obtain regulatory approval before opening a new practice, expanding, or making certain capital investments. Medical care in those states is higher-cost and lower-quality than in states without CON laws, according to CATO research, but the majority of this research shows correlations but does not show that CON laws cause reduced access, higher expenditures, and lower quality.

• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule through which ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) will get a 2.9% Medicare reimbursement increase in 2025, up from the 2.6% increase floated in the draft rule. The increase will affect approximately 6,100 ASCs, according to CMS.
• Ambulatory surgery center industry employment decreased slightly and average wages for nonsupervisory employees increased moderately during the first three 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.