Becker's ASC Review

12 ASC MANAGEMENT Physicians urge CMS to ease medical practice burdens By Alan Condon T he Medical Group Management Association on Sept. 12 penned a letter to CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure asking for certain provisions to be implemented to ease the economic burdens on physician practices. Four key recommendations from MGMA, which represents more than 15,000 medical groups comprising more than 350,000 physicians: 1. Offset the proposed 4.42 percent reduction to the Medicare physician conversion factor due to budget neutrality requirements and the expiration of the 3 percent positive adjustment to the conversion factor appropriated by Congress in 2021. 2. Waive the 4 percent statutory Pay-As-You-Go sequester, which was implemented to offset other congressional spending unrelated to the delivery of healthcare. e MGMA believes the healthcare community should not be penalized for increasing funding in other sectors. 3. Pass the Improving Seniors' Timely Access to Care Act of 2021 to make key changes to prior authorization programs in the Medicare Advantage program. Anders Gilberg, senior vice president of government affairs at MGMA, said prior authorization reform is "long overdue" and this legislation would put "commonsense guardrails" around prior authorization programs in Medicare Advantage, increasing transparency, decreasing unnecessary administrative burdens and preventing disruptions to care. 4. Extend the 5 percent alternative payment model incentive payment for six more years through the 2028 performance year/2030 payment year. Mr. Gilberg said this legislation will support the transition to value-based care. n Iowa city approves $35M project with surgery center By Carly Behm West Des Moines-based Iowa Clinic earned the city of Waukee's approval to build a surgery center, the Des Moines Register reported Sept. 9. e Iowa Clinic is expected to be the tenant of a 60,000 square-foot clinic and surgery center, the report said. e total project is expected to cost $35 million, and the city of Waukee, Iowa is offering nearly $1.7 million to support it. e new Iowa Clinic location is expected to be open by summer 2024. Specialties at the clinic haven't been determined, but it is expected to be similar to a location in Ankeny, Iowa. e Ankeny location has 25 specialties. The Iowa Clinic has a footprint in Waukee with two family medicine clinics. n Kelsey-Sebold to open 165,000-square-foot Texas campus with ASC By Claire Wallace K elsey-Sebold plans to open a 165,000-square-foot medical campus in Spring, Texas, that will include an ASC, a cancer center and offer primary and specialty care services. The ASC is set to open in the fall of 2023 and will have five operating rooms, four endoscopy suites and one procedure room for pain management and radiology. The campus will also provide other services, including optometry, orthopedics and neurology. "This new campus provides northern residents more convenient access to primary and specialty care with enhanced coordination by our clinical and support staff," Tony Lin, MD, chair and CEO of Kelsey-Sebold, said in a Sept. 12 press release. n Billings Clinic to open 140,000SF multispecialty clinic with ASC By Alan Condon B illings Clinic in Bozeman, Mont., opened a 140,000-square-foot multispecialty clinic on Sept. 13, according to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. The three-story clinic is the first building to open on its new 58-acre medical campus. It includes more than 60 exam rooms, 10 treatment rooms, physician offices and spaces for physical and occupational therapy. The ASC and urgent care center, which is connected to the building, is expected to be completed by mid-October. The campus will employ more than 250 people, including 54 providers, and will offer over 20 different specialties, according to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. n

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