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ASCs in the news: Massachusetts makes it harder to build new ASCs, clinics

Ambulatory Surgery Reimbursement Update, November 25, 2008

In a move aimed at containing healthcare costs and preventing unfair competition, Massachusetts’ Public Health Council increased its oversight of medical building projects, the Boston Globe reported on November 13.

While the move chiefly seeks to contain the growth of suburban outpatient clinics owned by Boston teaching hospitals, the Globe reports that physician-owned ASCs will face the same review, regardless of cost.

"As public health folks, we believe it's critically important for healthcare reform to succeed," John Auerbach, DPH, the state's public health commissioner told the newspaper. "So we have to pay attention not only to access and quality of care, but cost."

The paper reports that increased oversight of outpatient facilities was part of a wide-ranging cost-control law sponsored by Senate President Therese Murray and passed by the Massachusetts legislature last summer. The new rules will go into effect next month.

The Globe reports that the president of the Massachusetts Medical Society, Bruce Auerbach, MD, FACEP, said the Society "supports efforts to rein in the untenable and unsupportable trend in healthcare spending" and that reducing duplication of services is central to that goal. According to the newspaper, Auerbach concedes that physicians intending to open new ASCs might be less positive about the state’s decision.

To read the complete story, click here.

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