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American College of Gastroenterology predicts new payment rate to devastate GI services

Ambulatory Surgery Reimbursement Update, August 14, 2007

The American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) predicts that GI ASCs will take a particularly hard blow in upcoming years due to the new ASC payment rate, according to the ACG Web site.

The ACG's president, David A. Johnson, MD, FACG, comments, "The American College of Gastroenterology predicts that CMS has dealt a disastrous death blow to GI ASCs through draconian cuts to payment. This ill-conceived and unfair scheme threatens public health by severely limiting access to colorectal cancer screening in what is widely accepted as a safe, cost-effective setting for delivery of these health care services."

The current rate for a diagnostic colonoscopy is $446. Next year, the reimbursement will decrease to $427.76, and in 2001, it will plummet to $373.04. The ACG also says that a recent Deutschebank analysis concluded that any ASC that provides fewer than 3,500 GI procedures per year will ultimately be put out of business.

For more information, visit the ACG Web site.

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