Oregon’s ambulatory surgery centers might soon be hit with a 4 percent tax on their gross revenues. The Oregon Ambulatory Surgery Center Association hopes to spare the state’s more than 70 ASCs from the so-called provider tax, which would help fund health care for the state’s children and low-income families.
"If this tax had been in place at my center last year, we would have paid close to $300,000," says Kecia Rardin, RN, CNOR, CASC, administrator of the Northwest Ambulatory Surgery Center in Portland, Ore., and vice president of the Oregon Ambulatory Surgery Center Association. "That’s devastating."
Hospitals and some providers in Oregon already pay a tax in order to secure federal Medicaid matching funds Oregon receives. The new tax proposal would apply to others, including ASCs, and would be increased from current levels. Rural hospitals would be exempted. The governor’s office rationalizes the tax plan by saying that facilities that pay the new provider taxes would see almost a dollar-for-dollar return in new Medicaid revenues from newly insured patients.
"This may be true for hospitals, but it may not necessarily be true for ASCs because not all Medicaid-qualified surgeries can be done in an ASC," says Lynn Stapes, RN, MS, president of the Oregon Ambulatory Surgery Center Association and the administrator of McKenzie Surgery Center in Eugene, Ore.
OASCA officials and lobbyists are meeting with the governor’s staff on Jan. 14. A bill is due out by month’s end.
"Taxing surgery centers that are lean and mean does not make financial sense," adds Rob Schwartz, executive director of the Oregon Ambulatory Surgery Center Association and senior vice president of the ASC Association
At least five other states impose a tax on ASCs: Florida (1 percent of net revenues), Minnesota (2 percent of gross revenues), New Jersey (3.5 percent of gross), Rhode Island (2 percent of net) and West Virginia (1.75 percent of gross).
—Dan O’Connor
