• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

AAASC lobbies for inclusion of ASCs in proposed exception to self referral for EHR

Ambulatory Surgery Reimbursement Update, December 20, 2005

The American Association for Ambulatory Surgery Centers (AAASC) recently wrote to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in support of "CMS' efforts to promote widespread adoption of electronic health records (EHR) and electronic prescribing technology," but the association voiced its concerns about the omission of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) as permissible donors of EHR software.

"ASCs and the physicians who perform surgical procedures therein have a direct patient care relationship that is dependent on accurate and efficient record-keeping," wrote John Duggan, MD, president of the AAASC, in a letter to CMS urging inclusion of ASCs. "Accurate record-keeping is of no less paramount concern in the ASC than the hospital or group practice; yet, the proposed rule would not afford physicians who perform procedures primarily in an ASC setting the same protection as their counterparts in hospitals."

In October, the Office of the Inspector General and CMS proposed regulations to create a safe harbor for the antikickback law and an exception to the Stark II physician self-referral law. The proposals discuss the provision of free items and services to referral sources to promote the use of EHRs and electronic prescribing.

The letter from the AAASC also addressed the "scope of electronic prescribing" and "pre-interoperability and post-interoperability exceptions."

To view the AAASC's letter, click here.

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive