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ASCs in the news: Ohio ASCs and hospitals vie for patients as demographics shift

Ambulatory Surgery Reimbursement Update, August 12, 2008

Hospitals and physician-owned ASCs in Ohio are competing in a climate of contradictory patient data trends, according to a July 25 article in the Business Courier of Cincinnati. While patients and insurers like the convenience and lower costs associated with ambulatory procedures, the proportion of more complex inpatient procedures is likely to grow with the aging population, the article says.

The area's number of inpatient surgical procedures has risen slowly for several years: hospitals performed 67,300 in 2007, according to the article. The number of hospital-based outpatient procedures reached 197,600 last year, but has decreased at hospital-affiliated surgery centers.

At the same time, the Ohio Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers (OAASC) tells the Business Courier that its member facilities now perform 387,600 procedures a year. The OAASC represents about half the state’s ASCs. Prexus Health Partners, which operates 12 healthcare facilities in Ohio and Indiana, reports “stable or rising” patient numbers in its ASCs, says Donald J. Jansen, MHA, vice president of marketing and development in the article.

The Business Courier says that some Ohio ASCs have added, or are about to add, inpatient beds, adding to the competitive climate. Prexus plans to add 20 to 24 beds in its Surgery Center of Evendale, OH this year. Another ASC in the Prexus group, Butler County Medical Center in Hamilton, OH, now has eight beds.

To read the Business Courier of Cincinnati article, click here.

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