ASCA Audio Update

Tune in to this audio update to hear ASCA CEO Bill Prentice describe the total remaking of ASCA’s Clinical & Operational Benchmarking Survey into what is now simply called ASCA Benchmarking. Bill discusses the decision to make ASCA Benchmarking free for ASCA members, the transition to the new survey platform, the addition of three specialty tracks to the survey and the new participation requirements. With the survey now open for the first quarter, listen to this short explanation to make the most of this essential ASCA member benefit.

In this audio update, ASCA Associate Director of Public & Regulatory Affairs Alex Taira summarizes key elements of the 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) final rule. While the MPFS does not directly affect ASC reimbursements, its implications are of significant concern to ASCs, their physician practitioners and the patients they serve. In his analysis of the rule, Alex discusses the update to the conversion factor for physician reimbursements and highlights other regulatory matters that impact physician billing and patient care.

In this audio update, ASCA Chief Executive Officer Bill Prentice explains the impasse that led to the federal government shutdown, its impact on Medicare reimbursements and administration, and the health policy issues still in contention. At the time of this release, the federal government has been shut down for the past 10 days. Since no one can predict when or how the government closure will be resolved, ASCA members are encouraged to tune in to this and future ASCA communications to stay fully informed and up to date with the unfolding events.

On this week’s audio update, ASCA Associate Director of Membership & Business Development Mykal Cox joins host Charlie Leonard for a discussion about the benefits of ASCA membership. Mykal offers a sneak peek of Member Appreciation Week, which is August 25–29, including daily games, prizes and more. Mykal also discusses the benefits of early membership renewal, beginning in September, including renewal discounts and new member benefits being introduced in 2026. To learn more and for your chance to win a prize, be sure to make this update available to all surgery center staff.

On this week’s audio update, ASCA Director of Government Affairs Stephen Abresch discusses new federal legislation that would substantially benefit ASCs and their Medicare patients. Currently, when a Medicare beneficiary receives treatment in an ASC, they are responsible for 20 percent of their cost of care, with no limit on the amount of their copay. However, when a Medicare beneficiary receives identical care in a hospital outpatient department, their copay is capped at the hospital inpatient deductible amount, which is $1,676 for 2025. As a result, Medicare patients treated in an ASC face higher copays for approximately 183 procedures. Tune in and learn how this ASCA-backed legislation could remedy this inequity for both ASCs and Medicare beneficiaries.

On this week’s audio update, ASCA Editor in Chief Sahely Mukerji talks about ASCA’s new 10 Under 40 Honors program. This program recognizes rising stars under the age of 40 who are making waves in their facilities and shaping the ASC community. Tune in to learn how you can nominate a colleague for this prestigious honor and have them featured in ASC Focus magazine in September 2025.

On this week’s audio update, ASCA Director of Government Affairs Stephen Abresch discusses Indiana HB 1003, a state legislative proposal that could reduce reimbursements for certain surgical procedures to the physician office rates, even if the procedures are performed in a hospital outpatient department (HOPD) or an ASC.While this legislation would only affect facilities in Indiana, similar concepts are being discussed in other states like New York and Texas, as well as in Congress. Tune in to learn more about site-neutral payment proposals and how they could impact your facility.

On this week’s audio update, ASCA Meetings Director Shawn Bryant discusses new ASCA member education benefits for 2025. Starting this year, ASCA membership includes ASCA’s entire suite of virtual education. ASCA members now have unlimited access to ASCA’s virtual courses and webinars at no additional cost. Shawn also reviews the registration process for upcoming education courses as well as several other benefits included in ASCA membership.

On this very special audio update, ASCA CEO Bill Prentice talks with ASCA Director of Communications Kay Tucker about her retirement at the end of December. Kay has had an almost 30-year affiliation with ASCA, beginning as a consultant, followed by 18 years as its director of communications. Bill and Kay revisit several of her most impactful accomplishments and the milestones that marked their 14 years working together. Over the course of her distinguished career, Kay worked with hundreds of ASCA members and volunteers, and this brief but poignant conversation captures the essence of her time at ASCA, which was characterized by her professionalism, her “can do” spirit, and the joyful presence that she brought to every task and meeting—no matter how big or small.

On this week’s audio update, ASCA Associate Director of Membership & Business Development Mykal Cox and ASCA Director of Meetings Shawn Bryant provide important information regarding ASCA membership for 2025 and details about the ASCA 2025 Conference & Expo in Denver, Colorado. Tune in to learn how ASCA members will benefit by renewing their membership for next year and what attendees can look forward to at the conference.

On this week’s audio update, ASCA CEO Bill Prentice provides a preliminary look at the challenges and opportunities for ASCs in the new Congress and administration. Considering the announcement of several administration nominees and the formation of key congressional committees and leadership, Bill explains how the combination of ASC allies and new faces could affect health policies relating to ASCs. With so much at stake, he also provides ample reasons why ASCA members need to actively participate in advocating for the ASC segment of healthcare.

On this week’s audio update, ASCA Regulatory Policy & Research Manager Alex Taira talks about the financial impact that rulemaking at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has on physicians who care for Medicare patients, including those who treat patients in ASCs. Faced with another reduction in the reimbursement rates Medicare pays—after almost five years of reductions—physicians have turned to Congress for some relief. Alex summarizes new legislation that would reverse the Medicare proposal and fund a small, inflationary adjustment. The legislation, which will likely be considered when Congress returns from campaigning, has garnered widespread support from both patients and provider advocates, including ASCA.

On this week’s audio update, ASCA Chief Advocacy Officer Kara Newbury provides an important update about the prior authorization project for ASCs announced by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in February. This novel demonstration project would require ASCs to perform a small number of certain procedures to obtain prior authorization from CMS before being able to perform the procedures on Medicare patients. ASCA and many healthcare providers have serious concerns about the value and effectiveness of prior authorizations. Tune in to learn more about ASCA’s objections and the advocacy steps the organization is taking to seek a change of policy.

On this week’s audio update, ASCA CEO Bill Prentice discusses the current shortage of IV fluids affecting healthcare providers across the country, including surgery centers. Bill discusses the recovery efforts being undertaken to restore manufacturing capacity at Baxter’s North Carolina manufacturing facility that was badly damaged during Hurricane Helene. He also details the steps the federal government is taking to address the shortage, including allowing the importation of IV solutions from foreign manufacturers, as well as ASCA’s efforts to press for more federal relief and keep members of the ASC community informed through postings on the ASCA website.

On this week’s audio update, Jon Van Valkenburg, executive director of Upstate Orthopedics Ambulatory Surgery Center in East Syracuse, New York, and a member of the ASCA Board, provides a 360-degree look at the opportunities and challenges facing outpatient orthopedic surgery centers today. Tune in to learn why a growing demand for orthopedic procedures, rising with an increasingly active senior population in the US, faces some stiff headwinds in the form of reimbursement concerns, workforce challenges and inflationary pressures.

On this week’s audio update, ASCA President Mark Wainner talks about attending a recent White House summit aimed at improving patient and workforce safety across the US healthcare system. The summit brought together senior healthcare officials from across the federal government, leaders from 22 national healthcare organizations—including ASCA—and representatives from 16 major hospital systems. This was a first-of-its-kind meeting at The White House and a very prestigious opportunity for ASCA to participate in policymaking at the highest level. To learn more, listen to Mark’s brief recap of the meeting.

On this week’s audio update, ASCA CEO Bill Prentice and ASCA Chief Advocacy Officer Kara Newbury discuss the association’s recent submission to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding the 2025 proposed payment rule for ASCs. This annual rule determines reimbursement rates, covered procedures, quality reporting requirements and more for ASCs that treat Medicare beneficiaries. Listen to this short discussion to learn more about these critical issues and ASCA’s advocacy efforts aimed at advancing the interests of your ASC and the patients you treat. 

On this week’s audio update, ASCA Regulatory Policy & Research Manager Alex Taira summarizes key elements of comments ASCA recently submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regarding the agency’s proposed Physician Fee Schedule for 2025. While the Physician Fee Schedule does not affect ASC reimbursements, its implications are of significant concern to ASCs, their physician practitioners and the patients they serve. In his remarks, Alex addresses reductions in physician reimbursements as well as several related regulatory matters that impact physician billing and patient care.

This week’s recording provides an update on the 2025 proposed payment rule for ASCs; information about early registration for the ASCA 2025 Conference & Expo in Denver, Colorado; important news about ASCA membership renewals; and highlights from a recent study published in Perioperative Medicine journal regarding the safety and efficacy of surgeries performed in ASCs. We hope you will take just a few minutes to listen to this news.

On this week’s audio update, Colin Rorrie, PhD, ASCA’s senior governance and leadership adviser, discusses the attributes that make for good governance and association stewardship. He extols the importance of member participation in the development of the association’s operating committees, strategic plans and advocacy efforts, and explains how ASCA’s new method for electing members to the board of directors conforms with best practices in association governance today.

As part of National ASC Month, we invited David Shapiro, MD, to talk about the evolution of surgery centers, the critical need for ASCA members to participate in ASC advocacy and the outlook for the future of the surgery center community. David is a member of the ASCA Board and a past president of the association. He is also an anesthesiologist with extensive experience in surgery center management and has been actively involved in multiple ASC-related organizations and advocacy efforts.

On this week’s audio update, ASCA’s past president Rebecca Craig, RN, CASC, talks about how she and her staff at Harmony Surgery Center in Fort Collins, Colorado, rely on patient satisfaction surveys to constantly improve their patients’ experiences. Rebecca also shares her experience implementing the Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgery Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (OAS CAHPS) Survey and some important advice to ensure your ASC is ready for the January 2025 requirement.

On this week’s audio update, ASCA Board Secretary Rena Courtay, MBA, BSN, RN, CASC, talks about her visit to the new One World Surgery clinic and surgery center in the Dominican Republic. One World Surgery is a US-based nonprofit that conducts weeklong medical missions at its facilities in Honduras and the Dominican Republic. For the past eight years, the ASCA Foundation has provided financial support to One World Surgery, including a scholarship program for ASCA volunteers. ASCA members have participated in a number of their missions, bringing together clinical participants, nonclinical participants and family members to perform life-changing surgeries—free of cost—for local residents in need.

On this week’s audio update, ASCA Immediate Past President Mandy Hawkins is joined by ASCA Board Member Alfonso del Granado for a short discussion about the association’s ASC Administrator Development Program. Mandy and Alfonso have both served as mentors in the program. They take this opportunity to discuss the roles of both mentors and mentees, the yearlong course curriculum, enrollment qualifications, and the current application period, which remains open only until July 31, 2024.

This week, ASCA CEO Bill Prentice and ASCA Chief Advocacy Officer Kara Newbury discuss highlights of the 2025 proposed payment rule for ASCs and hospital outpatient departments (HOPD) released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on July 10. In their brief discussion, Bill and Kara report on the inflation update factor projected for ASCs in 2025, new requirements for the ASC Quality Reporting Program that could be implemented and new procedures CMS proposed for addition to the ASC Covered Procedures List.

This week’s audio update features Becky Ziegler-Otis, CASC, who recently completed a term on the ASCA Board of Directors and presently serves as assistant executive director of the ASC Quality Collaboration (ASCQC), the only organization dedicated exclusively to advancing patient safety and quality of care delivery in ASCs. Becky talks about the ASCQC’s recent launch of its new ASC Safety & Quality Assessment, a short but indispensable survey that will allow surgery centers to confidentially assess their performance and compare it to other surgery centers in their peer group.

This week, ASCA CEO Bill Prentice discusses the ASC performance ratings that U.S. News & World Report announced in May. ASCA has had ongoing discussions with the magazine’s ratings team about this first report. Most recently, ASCA and ASC Quality Collaboration Executive Director Kathy Wilson met with the team in mid-June to share concerns about the methodology used, inaccuracies in the data and ways to improve the ability of individual ASCs to respond to future ratings before they are published.

This week, ASCA Director of Communications Kay Tucker talks about ASCA’s media relations, publications, outbound communications and member communications resources—all of which are designed to educate patients and the public about surgery centers and keep ASCA members fully informed on developments in healthcare, regulatory and public policy, and upcoming ASCA events. Tune in to learn more about ASCA’s communications efforts and the tools and resources available for members.

ASCA Government Affairs Manager Maia Kunkel talks about preparing for National ASC Month, which is less than two months away, starting August 1. Maia discusses how individual ASCs can get involved in promotional activities, including media outreach, social media posts, and facility tours for state and federal elected officials. In under six minutes, learn how Maia and ASCA can help you plan now for a successful month of promoting the benefits of your ASC.

ASCA Assistant Director of Government Affairs Stephen Abresch provides a short summary of some of the more pressing issues he and several state ASC associations are currently monitoring in state legislatures around the country. Mostly, he focuses on legislation that would limit or restrict facility fees, change certificate of need policies, add new licensure requirements to certain ASCs, and place new conditions on ASC acquisitions and ownership by hedge funds and private equity investors. While the issues Stephen talks about may be specific to a handful of states today, it’s not uncommon to see policy ideas spread from state to state or even to the federal level—and why ASCA continues to work closely with state ASC associations across the country to stay on top of both the challenges and opportunities these issues present.

ASCA Chief Financial Officer John Greenwich talks about the ASCA Member Retirement Plan available to all ASCA members and their employees. John summarizes the key features and benefits of the plan for ASCA members, including the ability to off-load compliance and fiduciary responsibilities, potential cost savings and the opportunity to eliminate a common administrative burden. With employee recruitment and retention challenges across the ASC community, this informative, six-minute talk contains information of interest to all surgery center administrators, including those with retirement plans of their own already in place.

ASCA Chief Advocacy Officer Kara Newbury talks about what it takes to get procedures added to Medicare’s ASC Covered Procedures List (ASC-CPL), recent changes to the process and ways that ASCA and its members are involved.

ASCA Director of Information Systems Jason Hawkins provides a behind-the-scenes look at the process of developing the new ASCA website, from initial member consultation to its launch this past fall. He also provides an overview of several of the website’s most popular features and previews additional enhancements currently in development.

Anticipating the release of ASCA’s 2024 Member Survey this month, ASCA CEO Bill Prentice discusses three ways ASCA collects information from its members, the various ways it uses the results and the importance of each survey tool. He encourages every ASCA member to participate wherever possible to help determine ASCA’s future direction and supply important data that supports its advocacy on behalf of ASCs.

ASCA’s new president, Mark Wainner, talks about his past ASC experience and what he hopes ASCA can accomplish under his leadership. 

On this week’s audio update, ASCA Regulatory Policy & Research Manager Alex Taira talks about how to use the association’s 2024 Medicare Rate Calculators—members-only resources that provide ASCs with their specific Medicare reimbursement rates for ASC-payable procedures. 

 On this week’s audio update, ASCA CEO Bill Prentice discusses recent changes to the ASCA bylaws relating to the election of ASCA Board members and introduces three new board candidates, as well as two returning board members. Bill also provides a quick overview of ASCA’s Clinical & Operational Benchmarking Survey and the benefits it offers both members and nonmembers of the association.

On this week’s audio update, ASCA President Mandy Hawkins previews several opportunities for networking and socializing at the ASCA 2024 Conference & Expo in Orlando, Florida, next month. Mandy provides overviews of the Epic ’80s Backyard Party on Friday night, the Celebration Luncheon, a selection of wellness activities, the sold-out exhibit hall and more. Tune in, mark your calendar and bring your own ’80s style for the Friday evening event. 

On this week’s audio update, ASCA CEO Bill Prentice previews two outstanding expert panels that will be part of the general session program at the ASCA 2024 Conference & Expo in Orlando next month. In addition, Prentice explains how ASCA members can access Medicare reimbursement rates for both ASCs and hospital outpatient departments (HOPD) using ASCA’s proprietary rate calculators that are now available on the ASCA website.

Tune in to this week’s ASCA Audio Update to hear from ASCA CEO Bill Prentice about important upcoming deadlines for the Certified Administrator Surgery Center (CASC) credential and the ASCA 2024 Conference & Expo, as well as ASCA’s new Regulatory Series, which will be free to all ASCA members.

In this edition of the ASCA Audio Update, Bellingham Urology Group Chief Executive Officer Gary Richberg talks about ASCA’s fly-in and other National Advocacy Day activities in Washington, DC, last week, and ASCA Chief Advocacy Officer Kara Newbury provides an update on the recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announcement that the agency intends to conduct a prior authorization demonstration project for ASCs providing services to Medicare patients.

In this edition of the ASCA Audio Update, ASCA Chief Advocacy Officer Kara Newbury discusses the recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announcement that the agency intends to conduct a prior authorization demonstration project for ASCs providing services to Medicare patients, as well as ASCA’s plans for asking CMS to include additional procedures on its ASC Covered Procedures List (ASC-CPL). 

In the inaugural edition of the ASCA Audio Update, ASCA CEO Bill Prentice introduces this new resource, discusses how ASCA is working to help surgery centers comply with Medicare's new OAS CAHPS Survey mandate and highlights the ASCA 2024 Conference & Expo.