A growing number of commercial insurers are revamping policies to push providers and patients out of the hospital and into ASCs, where procedures can be performed at a lower cost, Becker’s reports, citing The National Law Review.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, UnitedHealthcare adopted a policy that restricted sites of care for some nonurgent surgeries and was projected to save beneficiaries $500 million in 2020, according to The National Law Review. Since November 2019, the payer reimburses only for surgeries performed in hospital outpatient departments if the setting is medically necessary based on the acuity of the patient. Read more.