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What are Ambulatory Surgery Centers?
Ambulatory surgery centers, or ASCs, are facilities where surgeries not requiring hospital admission are performed. ASCs provide cost-effective services and a more relaxing environment than hospitals. Patients who have surgery in an ASC arrive on the day of the procedure, have their surgery in a fully-equipped operating room and recover under the care of highly-skilled nurses — all without hospital admission. ASCs may perform surgeries in several specialties or dedicate their services to one specialty, such as eye care or sports medicine.
What are Ambulatory Surgery Centers are Not
ASCs are not rural health clinics, urgent care centers or clinics that provide diagnostic or primary health care services. ASCs only treat patients who have seen a health care provider and selected surgery as the appropriate treatment for their condition. ASCs are not physicians' offices. All ASCs are licensed and accredited in the same manner as hospitals. This ensures safe and effective surgery and pre and post-surgical patient care at the highest level.
Small Businesses in Your Community
ASCs, sometimes called surgicenters, are usually small businesses owned by members of the community. In fact, 70% of ASCs have 20 or fewer full-time employees. This holds true in Tennessee, where ASCs employ 2,700 professionals (full and part-time). These small, community-based businesses benefit their communities not only by providing access to reasonably priced surgical care, but also by contributing to the local property and income tax bases and providing services and contributions to charities. ASCs also make significant contributions to their communities as family-friendly employers that usually offer good health and retirement benefits and often offer flexible work schedules to their employees.
ASCs were first constructed in Tennessee in the mid 1970s to provide high-quality, cost-effective surgical care to patients. Today, Tennessee is home to more than 160 ASCs, many owned and operated by community physicians. By involving physicians in their management, ASCs ensure that those who are committed to providing top-notch patient care — and actually deliver that care — are also choosing the equipment and designing the safeguards they need to provide that care. This makes ASCs a great place for physicians to practice and a great place for patients to receive care.
For four decades, ASCs have improved patient care and advanced outpatient surgery. As a result, ASCs have introduced a number of health care innovations that benefit all patients, not just those who receive care in ASCs.
Accreditation, Certification and Licensing
ASCs are regulated in many ways. Since most provide care to Medicare beneficiaries, ASCs meet Medicare standards and are approved by the federal government. In virtually every state, ASCs must meet specific requirements and obtain a state license. To obtain Medicare certification, and to obtain a state license, an ASC must have an inspection conducted by a state official or a representative of an organization that the government has authorized to conduct that inspection. These inspectors actually visit the ASC to verify that it meets established standards.
A Good Choice for Quality, Customer Service and Cost
Patient satisfaction is a hallmark of the ASC industry. When the US Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Inspector General surveyed Medicare beneficiaries who had one of four procedures in an ASC, it found that 98% of the people were satisfied with their experience.
The high level of professionalism, quality and safety ASCs offer is an important reason patients and physicians choose ASCs for surgical procedures. A report of a three moth period in 2009 from the ASC Quality Collaboration showed the rate of transfers to a hospital from an ASC to be 1.010 per 1,000 ASC admissions. In another quality measure for the same time period, the rate of patient falls in the ASC was 0.179 per 1,000 admissions. In fact, studies overwhelmingly show that the quality of care delivered in ASCs is equal to or better than comparable hospital care.
Other reasons patients and physicians choose ASCs for surgical care are convenient scheduling and reliable service. For example, more than a third of ASCs report that greater than 90% of their surgeries start within seven minutes of the time the procedures are scheduled to begin.
In addition to providing high-quality health care and excellent service, ASCs save patients and insurers money. Medicare and its beneficiaries pay an average 54% more for a procedure performed in a hospital outpatient department than they would pay for the same procedure if performed in an ASC.
ASCs and Medicare
Since 1982, ASCs have saved Medicare a significant amount of money. One study shows that ASCs saved Medicare and its beneficiaries approximately $2 billion annually by providing low cost services. ASCs that receive Medicare payments must meet the program's certification criteria and receive payments only for procedures that have been approved for reimbursement by the federal government. Today, Medicare beneficiaries can have more than 3,300 different procedures performed in ASCs.
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