Payment Rates for Ambulatory Surgery Centers Are Higher Than Intended by HCFA
HRD-84-67
Published: Jul 12, 1984. Publicly Released: Jul 12, 1984.
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Highlights
GAO examined the methodology used by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) for establishing the standard overhead amounts to be paid to ambulatory surgery centers (ASC) and compared the cost to Medicare for surgery performed in ambulatory versus inpatient settings.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
---|---|---|
Health Care Financing Administration | The Administrator, HCFA, should recompute ASC payment rates to incorporate the cost-to-charge adjustment. |
Closed – Implemented
HCFA established new payment rates on March 12, 1990.
|
Health Care Financing Administration | The Administrator, HCFA, should obtain more complete and current data on ASC costs and develop payment rates from it. |
Closed – Implemented
HCFA developed and distributed a data collection form to gather the data which were used to compute new payment rates that were effective on March 12, 1990.
|
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Topics
Comparative analysisCost analysisHealth care costsMedical services ratesPaymentsSurgeryMedicareOutpatient carePhysiciansHospitals