PA Hospital Assn Takes Shots at Surgery Centers; PA ASC Assn Responds
 
In a self-serving and misleading interpretation of a Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council Report on the Financial Health of Pennsylvania’s Ambulatory Surgery Center’s, the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) claimed this week that high ASC profit margins are the result of ASCs “treating healthier, and usually better insured, patients {while} the financial and clinical demands on acute care hospitals, which are a safety net for all Pennsylvanians, continue to grow to grow.”
 
The HAP statement failed to mention that the Cost Containment Council reported only nominal growth in the number of surgery centers, ASC visits, and ASC volume in recent years.  The Pennsylvania Ambulatory Surgery Association responded to both the Report and HAP’s claims: The Association notes that in calculating the operating margins for ASCs, disbursements to physician owners and the tax payments they made were not counted as overhead and, therefore, were not properly deducted from final margin figures.  Moreover, unlike hospitals, when ASCs provide free or discounted care, they receive no subsidies or financial incentives.  Moreover, Medicare reimburses the ASC only 56% of the amount it pays the hospital for the same service.  Finally, ASCs are small businesses that, unlike hospitals, pay state and local taxes. 
 
The complete Pennsylania Council Report can be reviewed at: http://www.phc4.org/reports/fin/10/docs/fin2010report_volumetwo.pdf.
 
The Pennsylvania Ambulatory Surgery Association statement can be reviewed at: http://www.pasa-asf.org/Documents/9-28-11ASCresponsetoPHC4reports.pdf.