Looking back at 2019: Another strong year for ASCs!

By Randy Bishop, President and Chief Executive Officer, Surgical Notes

With 2019 having just wrapped up, let's take a look back at some of the ASC industry's most significant developments and trends from the year past.

1. Total knee arthroplasty added to ASC-payable list

Following through on its proposal, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized the addition of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) to the ASC-payable list beginning Jan. 1, 2020, when it released the 2020 final payment rule for ASCs and hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs) in November.

As I wrote in my review of 2018, the number of ASCs launching total joint programs and performing total joint procedures on non-Medicare patients was already on the rise. I even postulated that 2020 could be the year CMS added TKA to the ASC-payable list. Now that it was, we can expect ASC total joint volume to rise even further.