H. R. 2108 & S. 1173
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to modernize payments
for ambulatory surgical centers under the Medicare program.
In June of 2011, US Representatives Pete Sessions (R-TX) and John Larson (D-CT) and US Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) introduced the
ASC Quality and Access Act of 2011 into the US Congress. These elected officials, dedicated to ensuring quality health care and saving Medicare money, introduced this bill to accomplish four important goals:
- Prevent the widening gap between ASC payments and hospital outpatient department payments for identical procedures.
- Create a value-based purchasing system for ASCs.
- Implement an appropriate reporting system to measure the high quality care that is provided in the ASC setting.
- Allow Medicare patients to receive surgery on the same day they schedule a surgical procedure.
Progress is currently underway to enact this legislation as soon as
possible to ensure that the ASC industry continues to provide quality
care with appropriate access to the millions of Medicare patients in
need of ASC services.
Updated information concerning the progress and support for this important legislation is available below.
Congressional Cosponsors
US House:
H.R. 2108
US Senate:
S. 1173
Endorsements from Allied Organizations
American College of Surgeons (ACS)
American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE)
American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP)
Outpatient Ophthalmic Surgery Society (OOSS)
Letters of Support from State ASC Associations
California
Georgia
Florida
Louisiana
Maine
Tennessee
Write your members of Congress and ask that they support the ASC Quality and Access Act of 2011. After you write, encourage others at your facility — doctors, nurses, staff as well as patients and vendors — to write as well.