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S. 312Senate118th Congress (2023-2025)In Committee

Outpatient Surgery Quality and Access Act of 2023

A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to modernize payments for ambulatory surgical centers under the Medicare program, and for other purposes.

Sponsored by Richard BlumenthalSen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)
Introduced February 9, 2023

AI-Generated Summary

Updated January 20, 2026 at 3:21 AM UTC

The Outpatient Surgery Quality and Access Act of 2023 updates Medicare payment rules for ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs). It aligns ASC payment updates with outpatient department fee schedules, adds public quality‑measure reporting, limits patient copayments, and changes how procedures are added to ASC approved lists. The changes affect ASCs, hospitals, Medicare beneficiaries, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Key Provisions

  • Tie annual ASC payment updates to the same increase factor used for outpatient department fee schedules, starting in 2024.
  • Publish ASC and hospital outpatient department quality‑measure data side‑by‑side on Medicare.gov, allow centers to review and correct data before release, and provide beneficiary education about the comparisons.
  • Include at least one ASC representative on the advisory panel that advises on hospital outpatient payment rates.
  • Require the Secretary to explain, with cited criteria and peer‑reviewed evidence, why any requested procedure is excluded from the ASC approved procedure list.
  • Cap the ASC patient copayment so it cannot exceed the inpatient hospital deductible amount, with payment adjustments for any copayment reduction.
  • Limit certain budget‑neutrality adjustments to the first year of implementation and combine ASC and hospital outpatient procedure volumes when calculating budget neutrality.

Legislative Activity

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1 earlier action
SenateIntro Referral Latest Action

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Finance Committee

February 9, 2023

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SenateIntro Referral

Introduced in Senate

February 9, 2023

SenateIntro Referral

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Finance Committee

February 9, 2023

Bill Text

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Introduced in SenateIssued February 9, 2023

II

118th CONGRESS

1st Session

S. 312

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

February 9, 2023

Mr. Blumenthal (for himself and Mr. Cassidy) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to modernize payments for ambulatory surgical centers under the Medicare program, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Outpatient Surgery Quality and Access Act of 2023.

2.

Aligning updates for ambulatory surgical center services with updates for OPD services

Section 1833(i)(2)(D) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395l(i)(2)(D)) is amended—

(1)

in clause (v)—

(A)

in the first sentence, by inserting before the period the following: and, in the case of 2024 or a subsequent year, by the adjustment described in subsection (t)(3)(G) for the respective year; and

(B)

by moving the margin 6 ems to the left;

(2)

by redesignating clause (vi) as clause (vii); and

(3)

by inserting after clause (v) the following new clause:

(vi)

In implementing the system described in clause (i) for 2024 and each subsequent year, there shall be an annual update under such system for the year equal to the OPD fee schedule increase factor specified under subsection (t)(3)(C)(iv) for such year, adjusted in accordance with clauses (iv) and (v).

.

3.

Transparency of quality reporting and Medicare beneficiary information

Paragraph (7) of section 1833(i) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395l(i)) is amended by adding at the end the following new subparagraphs:

(C)

To the extent that quality measures implemented by the Secretary under this paragraph for ambulatory surgical centers and under section 1833(t)(17) for hospital outpatient departments are applicable to the provision of surgical services in both ambulatory surgical centers and hospital outpatient departments, the Secretary shall make reported data on such centers and departments available on the website Medicare.gov in a manner that will permit side-by-side comparisons on such measures for ambulatory surgical centers and hospital outpatient departments in the same geographic area.

(D)

The Secretary shall ensure that an ambulatory surgery center and a hospital has the opportunity to review, and submit any corrections for, the data to be made public with respect to the ambulatory surgery center under subparagraph (C) prior to such data being made public.

(E)

The Secretary shall develop materials and inform beneficiaries under this title of publicly available comparisons provided for in subparagraph (C).

.

4.

Advisory Panel on Hospital Outpatient Payment Representation

(a)

ASC representative

The second sentence of section 1833(t)(9)(A) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395l(t)(9)(A)) is amended by inserting and suppliers subject to the prospective payment system (including at least one ambulatory surgical center representative) after an appropriate selection of representatives of providers.

(b)

Effective date

The amendment made by subsection (a) shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.

5.

Reasons for excluding additional procedures from ASC approved list

(a)

In general

Section 1833(i)(1) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395l(i)(1)) is amended by adding at the end the following: In updating such lists for application in years beginning after the date of the enactment of this sentence, for each procedure that was requested to be included in such lists during the public comment period but which the Secretary does not propose (in the final rule updating such lists) to so include in such lists, the Secretary shall cite in such final rule the specific criteria in paragraph (b) or (c) of section 416.166 of title 42, Code of Federal Regulations, based on which the procedure was excluded. If paragraph (b) of such section is cited for exclusion of a procedure, the Secretary shall identify the peer reviewed research or the evidence upon which such determination is based..

(b)

Effective date

The amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply to lists of ambulatory surgery procedures for application in years beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act.

6.

Limitation on ambulatory surgery center copayment for a procedure to the hospital deductible amount

Section 1833(a)(1)(G) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395l(a)(1)(G)) is amended by inserting the following before the comma at the end: , except that in no case shall the copayment amount for such services furnished in a year exceed the amount of the inpatient hospital deductible established under section 1813(b) for the year (and, notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the amount of payment for such services shall be increased by the amount of any reduction in the copayment amount for such services pursuant to this subparagraph).

7.

Alignment of budget neutrality adjustment for outpatient surgical procedures

(a)

Prohibiting unauthorized agency action

Section 1833(i)(2)(D)(ii) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395l(i)(2)(D)(ii)) is amended by adding at the end the following: The preceding sentence shall only apply to the first year the system described in clause (i) was implemented and shall not apply to any year after 2023..

(b)

Combining volume for budget neutrality calculation

Section 1833(t)(9)(B) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395l(t)(9)(B)) is amended by inserting taking into account the volume of procedures paid under this subsection combined with the volume of procedures paid under subsection (i), after subparagraph (A),.

(c)

Effective Date

The amendments made by subsections (a) and (b) shall apply in years beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act.