Why ASC’s are a Preferred Option than Hospitals?

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Why ASCs are a Preferred Option than Hospitals?
Ambulatory Surgery Centers seem to be gaining
headway to hospitals. The main reason for this is
if the procedure can be carried out at an
outpatient facility the health care cost of the
patient is lesser. The procedures carried out in
ASCs usually are less complicated and do not
require overnight stay hence, the cost here is
lower compared to a hospital. Historically
procedures were exclusively done in hospitals but
with the rise of ASCs and with the improvement
in the facilities offered by ASCs a large number
of intensive procedures like knee, shoulder,
eye, spine, and other surgeries are done at
ASCs. In fact, in the US more than 50 of the
colonoscopy procedures are carried out at
ASCs. The fact that ASCs provide less
expensive and faster services for procedures have
made them more popular. Moreover, the fact that
they are at convenient locations for patients, as
well as physicians, is another advantage that
many hospitals might not have. In fact, the US
office of the Inspector General has promoted
utilization of ASCs as they bring about a large
amount of cost savings to the Federal health care
programs when procedures are held there in
comparison to a hospital. Rise of ASCs
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Why ASCs are a Preferred Option than Hospitals?
The reason for the growth in ambulatory
services is due to the advances in surgical
techniques and anesthesia. With the induction of
laparoscopic and laser techniques, there has been
a change in surgeries. Moreover, this has also
made surgeries easier on patients as it reduces
surgical trauma, pain, post-operative nausea, and
most vital of all it allows the patient to return
more quickly to their normal lives.
Anesthesiology improvements have resulted in
reducing headaches and postoperative nausea as a
result of which the demand for ASC procedures
have surged.   Another aspect which has fuelled
ASCs growth is managed care and the changes
implemented by Medicare payment systems which
changed the incentives to use ambulatory surgical
settings. The fact that managed care plans pay
attention to not only the price of services but
also on location and quality have led to the
belief that it is better to get minor procedures
done at ambulatory centers. The Medicare program
introduced the prospective payment system which
implicitly provided incentives if procedures were
done in an outpatient setting. It has been
reported that there has been a dramatic reduction
in inpatient tests and procedures after the
introduction of the prospective payment system.
Furthermore, Medicare has expanded its coverage
to include more procedures in an ambulatory
setting and often pays more for ambulatorybased
services rather than inpatient services.
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Why ASCs are a Preferred Option than Hospitals?
Epilogue We can understand from the article
that ASCs have been seeing a decent run and it
may even be eating into the business of the
hospitals. However, the reason ASCs are a reality
is because they are doing a good job and
reinventing themselves to suit the needs of the
community instead of being archaic in their view
like many hospitals tend to be.