ASC Quality Reporting
Overview
The Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality Reporting (ASCQR) Program is a pay-for-reporting, quality data program administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Under this program, ASCs report quality of care data for standardized measures to not receive a payment penalty to their annual payment update to their ASC annual payment rate.
Program Requirements
Initial program requirements were finalized in the CY 2012 Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS)/ASC final rule with comment period, CMS-1525-FC, and the FY 2013 Inpatient Prospective Payment System/Long-term Care Hospital (IPPS/LTCH) final rule with comment period.
Read more about the Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Quality Reporting Program in the most recent final rule found here.
ASC Quality Reporting Program Measures
CMS seeks to develop a comprehensive set of quality measures to be available for widespread use for making informed decisions and quality improvement in the ambulatory surgical center (ASC) setting. For the CY 2023 payment determinations, a variety of data sources were used to determine the quality of care that Medicare beneficiaries received, including measures submitted via a web-based tool completed by the facility, or through Medicare administrative claims information.
CMS continues to evaluate measures, ensuring meaningful information is collected to ensure quality of care, removing measures that are no longer needed and adding measures to continue the quality improvement process. Measures planned for future implementation will focus on patient-reported outcomes measure following elective procedures, risk factors that influence health disparities, and measures to assess pain management surgical procedures performed in ASCs.
Measures for the CY 2021 Reporting Period/CY 2023 Payment Determination
- ASC-9 Endoscopy/Polyp Surveillance: Appropriate Follow-Up Interval for Normal Colonoscopy in Average Risk Patients
- ASC-11 Cataracts: Improvement in Patient’s Visual Function within 90 Days Following Cataract Surgery*
- ASC-12 Facility 7-Day Risk-Standardized Hospital Visit Rate after Outpatient Colonoscopy**
- ASC-13 Normothermia
- ASC-14 Unplanned Anterior Vitrectomy
- ASC-17 Hospital Visits After Orthopedic Ambulatory Surgical Center Procedures**
- ASC-18 Hospital Visits After Urology Ambulatory Surgical Center Procedures**
* ASCs may voluntarily submit data for CY 2021 but will not be subject to a payment reduction with respect to this measure during the voluntary reporting period.
** Does not require any additional data submission apart from standard Medicare Fee-for-Service claims.
Public Reporting
Data collected through the ASCQR program is publicly reported so people with Medicare and other consumers can find and compare the quality of care provided at ambulatory surgical centers. Publishing these data can improve facility performance by providing benchmarks for selected clinical areas and public view of facility data.
The CMS Provider Data Catalog via data.cms.gov publishes information on the quality of care provided to patients; this information is made available to inform consumers and to encourage healthcare facilities to make continued improvements in care quality. Data are generally refreshed bi-annually for the ASCQR Program. Section 1833(t)(17)(E) of the Social Security Act and requires that the Secretary establish procedures to make data collected under the ASCQR program available to the public. Previous years' facility scores are available in the Provider Data Catalog and payment adjustment results are available on QualityNet.cms.gov.
Contact Us
Submit questions and search for answers on the ASCQR Program through the Quality Question and Answer Tool or call the ASCQR Support at (866) 800-8756 weekdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern Time.