Cost Savings

While ASCs focus on ensuring that patients have the best surgical experience possible, they also provide cost-effective care that saves the government, third-party payers and patients money. Because ASCs are highly specialized and function on a much smaller scale, they are able to provide services at a lower price than a full-service hospital.

The value ASCs provide is a combination of cost and quality. A study published in Health Affairs finds that ASCs save money and increase efficiency for Medicare, insurers and patients alike, while providing the same high-quality care as HOPDs. That study, conducted by health economists Elizabeth Munnich of the University of Louisville and Stephen Parente of the University of Minnesota, concludes that “ASCs are a high-quality, lower-cost substitute for hospitals as venues for outpatient surgery.” The full study can be read in the May 2014 issue of Health Affairs.

Medicare Cost Savings

Overview

Read a summary of the key findings of the reports listed below.

Cost Savings per State

Use this map to learn how many ASCs are in your state, which procedures are most commonly performed in your state and how much money your state saves the Medicare system every year.

Study: Reducing Medicare Costs by Migrating Volume from HOPDs to ASCs

This analysis estimates savings attributed to ASCs for the Medicare program from 2011 to 2018, and projects savings for 2019 through 2028.

Study: Medicare Cost Savings Tied to ASCs

ASCs saved the Medicare program and its beneficiaries $7.5 billion over the four-year period from 2008 to 2011.

Private Payer Data

Shifting Common Procedures to Ambulatory Surgery Centers Can Save Patients More Than $680

Shifting outpatient procedures to ASCs would reduce spending by 59 percent and save consumers $684 on average per procedure.

Performing Joint Replacements in Ambulatory Surgery Centers Could Help 500,000 People...

Privately insured individuals and employers could save $2 billion annually if routine hip and knee replacements were performed in ASCs.

Study: Commercial Insurance Cost Savings in Ambulatory Surgery Centers

For the commercially insured population in the U.S., an estimated $37.8 billion is saved annually by using ASCs.