September 15, 2025
Washington, DC—The Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA) submitted comments in response to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) 2026 proposed payment rule for ambulatory surgery centers (ASC) and hospital outpatient departments (HOPD) today.
In the comments, ASCA expressed support for CMS’ proposal to broadly expand the list of procedures allowed to be performed in ASCs. ASCA agrees with CMS that clinicians are the stakeholders best suited to determine the appropriate site of service for their patients. ASCA’s comments also reflected ongoing advocacy for continued alignment of inflationary update factors between ASCs and HOPDs and the elimination of the budgetary adjustment that continues to severely depress rates for important Medicare procedures like cataract removals. With regards to quality reporting, ASCA expressed support for the removal of four measures from the ASC Quality Reporting (ASCQR) Program that held little applicability to meaningful measurement of a surgery center’s operational quality.
“CMS understands the importance of surgery centers, both in terms of providing essential services to beneficiaries as well as generating significant program savings,” said ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice. “While additional changes are needed to leverage the savings that surgery centers generate within the Medicare ecosystem, this proposed rule represents a positive step forward. We look forward to a productive relationship with Dr. Oz and leaders at CMS to ensure that surgery centers continue to provide high-quality, low-cost services to Medicare beneficiaries across the nation.”
ASCA also submitted comments in response to proposed updates to the 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS). ASCA strongly opposes two proposed updates to the MPFS—a proposed cut to facility indirect practice expense reimbursement and a 2.5 percent cut that is aimed at capturing clinician efficiency—among other policies.
More than 6,500 Medicare-certified ASCs currently operate in the US, performing a wide variety of outpatient procedures. Surgery centers represent a significant source of savings potential for both patients and payers because they can perform procedures with greater efficiency and at a lower cost than hospitals. According to an analysis from KNG Health Consulting, surgery centers are projected to reduce Medicare program costs by $73.4 billion from 2019 to 2028.
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