Outpatient surgery visits increased 67 percent between 1996 and 2006 to 34.7 million a year, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC says reimbursement changes helped lead to the increase.
The CDC report, “Ambulatory Surgery in the United States, 2006,” notes that the number of visits to freestanding surgery centers tripled during the 10-year period to 14.9 million per year, while the number of visits to hospital-based surgery centers remained relatively unchanged at 19.9 million per year.
The most common outpatient surgery procedures in 2006 included endoscopies of the large or small intestine and extractions of the eye lens.
“Since the first ambulatory surgical center opened its doors in the U.S. in 1970, they’ve revolutionized how surgical care is delivered in the U.S.,” said Mikhail Zalmanov, MD, director of anesthesia at Gramercy Surgery, an ASC in Manhattan. “ASCs offer patients numerous advantages over hospitals and private offices at each step of the process.”
The report attributes the growth in outpatient surgery visits to advances in medical technology and changes in payment methods.
Adjustments in Medicare eligibility and reimbursement rules have reduced the number of Medicare patients receiving care at long-term acute care hospitals and patients treated at rehabilitation hospitals.
Many state Medicaid plans and private insurers followed the lead of the Medicare program and adopted similar policies. The growth of managed care, along with the consolidation of hospitals, has also furthered the growth of ambulatory surgery, the report noted.
For instance, according to a report from the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4), 17 new ASCs opened in Pennsylvania between June 2007 and May 2008, bringing the statewide total to 245.
“While this most recent growth in new ASCs is not as brisk as the prior 12-month period when 28 new facilities opened, it still reflects the ongoing outpatient surgery trend,” said David R. Kreider, PHC4’s chairman and vice president for operations.
“ASCs, which outnumber the state’s acute care hospitals, continue to perform remarkably well as their statewide total and operating margins increased 3.9 points during FY07,” said Kreider.
The CDC’s findings are based on 2006 data from the National Survey of Ambulatory Surgery, which was last conducted in 1996.