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FASA backs Bush’s call for pricing transparency

Ambulatory Surgery Reimbursement Update, February 21, 2006

A Federated Ambulatory Surgery Association (FASA) board member addressed President Bush last week, telling the President about the importance of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) in healthcare and explaining why more Americans are choosing ASCs for their surgery, according to a FASA press release.

Jerry Henderson, a registered nurse and FASA board member, spoke at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) where the President was campaigning to draw attention to his healthcare agenda. Henderson told the President that pricing transparency was key to providing better patient care and reducing healthcare costs.

"As a nurse, I've seen first-hand how advances in medical technology have transformed surgeries that were once lengthy and complex procedures requiring hospitalization into safe, outpatient procedures that were less costly and much easier on patients," she said, according to the press release. "But a lack of information, as well as restrictions on insurance coverage, often keep patients from knowing their options. They can't make decisions that are truly informed about quality or cost and reimbursement regulations often keep them from following their doctor's advice."

FASA has endorsed President Bush's call for the creation of a voluntary program that would publicize the prices healthcare providers charge for their services.

"Improved competition and greater transparency could produce better health care for everyone. ASCs are the model for the type of consumer-driven healthcare that the President supports," said Kathy Bryant, FASA's president, in the press release.

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