HHS to Review Same-Day Surgery Notification Rule for ASCs

Medicare's same-day notification rule for ambulatory surgery centers enacted in 2009 is among a wide range of federal rules and regulations being reviewed by the Department of Health and Human Services as part of an Obama administration mandate to simplify the regulatory system.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Same-Day Services Final Rule (42 CFR Part 416) currently requires ASCs to notify patients of their rights and of the facility's ownership before the day of surgery, except in cases when the referral for surgery is made on the same day the procedure is to be performed and when the referring physician indicates that it's medically necessary for the patient to undergo surgery that day. The ASC industry has been fighting for broader exceptions to let ASCs issue patients' rights and facility ownership notifications on the day of surgery in more cases.

In an effort to "reduce burden on ASCs and improve timeliness in access to care," CMS plans to review the rule and consider modifications that would benefit both patients needing surgery and facilities tasked with providing the paperwork, according to HHS' Preliminary Plan for Retrospective Review released last week.

The 89-page plan focuses on eliminating rules that "are no longer justified or necessary," as well as "strengthening, complementing, or modernizing rules where necessary or appropriate — including, if relevant, undertaking new rulemaking." In addition to the same-day notification rule for ASCs, HHS will review provisions associated with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the FDA's pre-market review and regulation of medical devices, quality reporting requirements and other major regulatory initiatives.

The agency has also made transparency a major goal of this effort, pledging to make available, "to the extent feasible and permitted by law, information that is essential for" government entities, healthcare industry stakeholders and the public at large "to understand the basis of a proposed regulatory activity, especially that information on the scientific or evidence-based data underpinning the regulation."

Read the full preliminary plan here.

Irene Tsikitas