Advocacy News

Our joint comments to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services outlined our opposition to its proposal to pilot a new prior authorization requirement for ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) delivering certain Medicare Part B services.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services final rule for the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Systems includes a 3.1% payment boost for 2024.

About 3,500 hospitals and 6,000 ambulatory surgical centers (ASC) that perform ophthalmic procedures would be affected by the proposed pay hike.  

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed rule for Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment System includes a 2.7% payment boost for 2023.  

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has acceded to Academy-led efforts to eliminate or at least reduce the unnecessary burden imposed by CMS’ prior authorization program for hospital outpatient department services, including removing CPT code 67911, a type of corrective lid surgery, from the list.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Wednesday finalized a rule that includes a 2.4% increase in payment for ambulatory surgery centers in 2021, but expands prior authorization for procedures performed in hospital outpatient departments.

The year 2020 was a busy one for the Academy's health policy advocates. Here is a rundown of our top issues.

Services provided outside of the hospital outpatient setting — including ambulatory surgery centers — are not subject to the new prior authorization requirements.