WISCA works closely with our national association partner – the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA) – on advocacy and other issues important to our members. In fact, the WISCA Government Affairs Team joins a national ASCA state chapter call twice a month for a federal regulatory and legislative briefing and closely follows their published Government Affairs Updates. Here is the latest government affairs news from ASCA:

• Update on CMS Meeting
• • On February 22, ASCA representatives met virtually with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) staff responsible for payment policies in ASCs. One topic of conversation was the ASC Covered Procedures List (ASC-CPL). ASCA representatives raised concerns with CMS using a “typical Medicare beneficiary” standard to determine what procedures should be added to the ASC-CPL, questioning who this description represents and arguing that clinicians should be given more discretion to determine the appropriate site of service. ASCA also mentioned the ASC-CPL survey results received from its members and indicated it would be submitting the list of requested procedures to the agency within the next few days. ASCA also asked about the future of the five-year pilot CMS established for updating ASC reimbursement from 2018–2023 using the hospital market basket instead of the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), which was used previously. ASCA is looking to evaluate the impact of this change on the payment system, but since CMS did not release 2020 data due to the pandemic and the pandemic itself has influenced volume, there is limited information that can be used to determine the impact of the policy. ASCA staff is hopeful that CMS will continue to use the hospital market basket beyond 2023, so there will be more data on the impact. Please contact Kara Newbury with any questions.
• ASC Quality Reporting Deadline Approaching
• • As a reminder, the next deadline for submitting Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality Reporting (ASCQR) Program data for several measures is Monday, May 15. ASCs must submit 2022 data via the Hospital Quality Reporting secure portal for ASC-9: Endoscopy/Polyp Surveillance: Appropriate Follow-Up Interval for Normal Colonoscopy in Average Risk Patients, ASC-13: Normothermia and ASC-14: Unplanned Anterior Vitrectomy. In addition, the next quarterly data submission deadline for ASC-20: COVID-19 Vaccination Coverage Among Health Care Personnel is also Monday, May 15, and covers the data collected in the fourth quarter of 2022, October 1 through December 31. For ASC-20, facilities must select one week per month on which to report to meet the quarterly submission requirement.
  • • The ASCQR Program provides a Web-Based Measure Status Listing that allows facilities to check their data submission status for web-based measures in the program. Enter your ASC’s NPI or CCN in the ASC Facility and CCN Lookup section to see your facility’s submission status. ASCs that fail to meet ASCQR Program requirements are subject to a 2 percent cut to their fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare reimbursements. ASCA has resources available to help, starting with the main Quality Reporting webpage. To ensure you are ready for compliance in 2023, the “How to Meet Medicare’s 2023 ASC Quality Reporting (ASCQR) Program Requirements” resource takes you through the measures that remain in the program for 2023 and what you need to do to avoid penalties in 2024. Additional resources, including the ASCQR Program Specifications Manual, are available on the ASCQR Program website. 
    • If you have questions, contact the ASCQR Program Support Contractor at 866.800.8756 or through the Quality Question and Answer Tool.