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Presidential election results not expected to change much for ASCs

Ambulatory Surgery Reimbursement Update, November 16, 2004

The recent presidential election saw most of America fiercely divided, with each individual voter seeming to have passionate arguments for their candidate and/or against the other. For the ambulatory surgery industry, however, some insiders are saying that President Bush's re-election doesn't really mean anything significantly different than a change to John Kerry would have.

Jack Egnatinsky, M.D., president of the Federated Ambulatory Surgery Association, told Modern Physician magazine that "I don't think it's going to make much difference," and added that neither Bush nor Kerry had offered a clear picture on their plans for dealing with the Medicare reimbursement cap, which took ASC reimbursement levels back to 2003 numbers, and which ASC owners are trying to get overturned.

Additionally, FASA Executive Director Kathy Bryant told the magazine that "The projections for the budget deficit are just horrendous. That's why it might not make much difference if the Democrats or the Republicans were in there. There wouldn't be much money either way."

Bryant and Egnatinsky also told Modern Physician that they didn't expect to see political pressure brought against ASCs by acute-care hospitals similar to the type brought against physician-owned specialty hospitals.

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