Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality Reporting Program

In the final CY 2012 payment rule for the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (HOPPS) and Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASCs) displayed on November 1, 2011, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized a quality reporting program for ASCs. Quality reporting will begin in 2012 for payment determinations in 2014. An ASC that does not successfully report data to the Medicare program in 2012 will have its Medicare payments reduced by 2 percent in 2014. CMS will be paying for reporting data, not the level of performance achieved. Based on comments from the AUA and other professional organizations, CMS postponed reporting until October, 2012. However one quality initiative, the use of a Safe Surgery Checklist, must begin on January 1, 2012 for ASCs to receive credit. CMS is not requiring that ASCs use a specific checklist.

Ambulatory Surgical Centers must begin using a Safe Surgery Checklist starting January 1, 2012 for ASCs to receive credit for this quality measure.

Appropriate checklists that could be used can be found here and here.

Quality Measures Required for ASC Reporting

Measure	Reporting Period	Payments Affected
Patient Burn	Begins October 1, 2012	CY 2014-2016
Patient Fall	Begins October 1, 2012	CY 2014-2016
Wrong Site, Side, Patient, Procedure, Implant	Begins October 1, 2012	CY 2014-2016
Hospital Admission/Transfer	Begins October 1, 2012	CY 2014-2016
Prophylactic IV Antibiotic Timing	Begins October 1, 2012	CY 2014-2016
Safe Surgery Checklist Use	Measures use 1-1-2012 through 12-31-2012, reported July 1-August 15, 2013	CY 2015-2016
Volume of Certain Procedures	July 1 through August 15, 2013	CY 2015-2016
Influenza Vaccination Among Health Care Workers	October 1, 2014 through March 31, 2015	CY 2016