# OBL vs ASC



## Rpannell1158 (Nov 15, 2018)

HI, have pain doctor that wants to open an OBL for minor procedures, spinal cord implants, injections, etc, moderate sedation only.  Having difficulty finding any information on an Office Based Lab..... VS and ASC.  What is the difference and what would be the POS for billing an OBL?  Please need response as quickly as possible.


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## tracylc10 (Nov 27, 2018)

https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Ed...s/Downloads/AmbSurgCtrFeepymtfctsht508-09.pdf

I found this on another post.


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## Rpannell1158 (Dec 5, 2018)

*saga of the OBS vs ASC and point of service code*

we are being accredited as an Office based surgery center first, so we can perform procedures and receive professional and facility reimbursements.  Our state does not require licensing as either.  We will have OUr 855 has application has been approved and passed onto the next phase in CMS.  WHAT POS DO I USE FOR THE OBS?  I WOULD LIKE TO USE 19.  Can I get a general concensous on the topic?  PLEASE


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## thomas7331 (Dec 5, 2018)

POS 19 is for an off-campus provider-based clinic that is owned by a hospital.  If your practice is not owned by a hospital, I'm not sure why you would want to use this.  In a facility POS, the physician bills and is paid only for the professional work and the facility bills its fees on a separate UB form and is reimbursed a facility fee under a different reimbursement schedule.  Is your office-based surgery center being licensed and credentialed with your payers as a facility to bill a UB-04 claim?  If not, then you will need to stick to POS 11 so that you are paid a physician fee that includes payment for practice expenses.  

Freestanding ASCs are billed with POS 24, but I am not aware that CMS actually recognizes office based surgery centers as facilities in which case you may need to continue billing to Medicare and other payers as a regular physician office practice.  But if you are being recognized as a facility, then I think you should look to the payer to give you guidance on how they wish these services to be billed.  To my knowledge, there is no place of service code that corresponds to an office based surgery center that is not licensed.


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