March 25, 2026
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Alexandria, VA—Today, Representatives Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) and John Larson (D-CT) introduced the Outpatient Surgery Access Act of 2026. The Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA) supports this bill, which would make essential changes to the Medicare ambulatory surgical center (ASC) payment system. If passed, the Outpatient Surgery Access Act would help stabilize ASC reimbursement by permanently instituting the same inflationary factor used to update hospital payment rates. The legislation also would remove a budget-neutrality adjustment that increasingly depresses ASC rates.
“Outdated Medicare policies are limiting access to high-quality and lower-cost care,” said Representative Van Duyne. “Our healthcare system should reward high-quality, lower-cost care, not stand in its way, like current rules fail to treat outpatient surgical centers fairly. This bipartisan legislation supports expanded access to outpatient surgery facilities and ensures our nation’s seniors can receive the best care.”
Said Representative Larson, “Ambulatory surgical centers provide preventive services and essential procedures to thousands of patients across the State of Connecticut every year. I’m proud to join with my colleague, Rep. Beth Van Duyne, on this common-sense, bipartisan bill to protect outpatient care for Connecticut residents and Americans across the country. We will continue to work together on solutions that connect patients with the care they need and save taxpayer money.”
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) aligned the surgery center payment system with the hospital outpatient payment system in 2009. However, CMS has historically updated ASC rates using the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). The CPI-U measures changes in prices for common household consumer goods, but it is not an accurate reflection of the costs of operating a healthcare facility. By contrast, hospital payments are updated using the hospital market basket price index, which incorporates prices for healthcare-related inputs such as healthcare wages, medical equipment and malpractice insurance. The difference in inflationary update factors creates a disparity in reimbursement between ASCs and hospitals, threatening access to the critical care that surgery centers provide. In 2019, after years of ASCA’s advocacy, CMS agreed to update surgery center payments using the hospital market basket for a trial period, which is set to expire at the end of 2026.
“Surgery centers perform millions of essential elective procedures for Medicare beneficiaries every year,” said ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice. “Ensuring an accurate and stable payment system is key to protecting patient access to low-cost, high-quality surgery centers. ASCA thanks Representatives Larson and Van Duyne for introducing this important bill.”
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 a recent analysis from KNG Health Consulting, surgery centers are projected to reduce Medicare program costs by $73.4 billion from 2019 to 2028.