Reader Question: Ambulatory Surgery Centers

Question: Do ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) need to bill according to APCs?

Jena Reitmeier, Reimbursement Analyst
BCBSND/Noridian

Answer: ASCs do not need to bill under APCs yet. Any changes have been postponed until January 2002, with a four-year transition period. This is only for free-standing ASCs. Any hospital-based surgery center definitely falls under APCs. According to the definition in the Federated Ambulatory Surgery Association (FASA) Web site (http://www.fasa.org), ASCs perform surgeries that do not require hospital admission.

Certain ASCs perform surgeries in a variety of specialties or dedicate their services to one specialty, such as eye care. Patients who elect to have surgery in an ASC arrive on the day of the procedure, have the surgery in an operating room, and recover under the care of the nursing staff, all without a hospital admission.

- Published on 2001-05-01