OOSS continues to advocate for sensible CMS policies that can improve patient outcomes and reduce unnecessary regulation of ASCs.

As we round the corner into fall and approach the end of 2023, the Outpatient Ophthalmic Surgery Society (OOSS) is focused on federal advocacy, specifically the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) 2024 ASC payment final rule, and preparing for the OOSS Symposium luncheon program, which will be held during the annual meeting of the American Academy of Opthalmology (AAO) in San Francisco on Saturday, November 4.

The OOSS Symposium program will include a Washington Advocacy Overview by Mike Romansky, JD, the Washington, D.C., counsel for OOSS. It will also highlight innovative solutions to ASC challenges and feature a provocative panel of executive leaders from private equity firms engaged in the consolidation of ophthalmology. They will discuss the evolution and contraction of private equity, the pros and cons for physician practices and ASCs, and their strategic priorities for 2024. We appreciate Alcon’s support as the program’s presenting sponsor, along with our other industry partners who fuel OOSS’s mission. Register for the Symposium at www.ooss.org .

OOSS Advocacy in the Capital

In July, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published the 2024 ASC payment regulation. For the 24th straight year, ASCs received a positive update, this time of 2.8 percent. Importantly, the cataract code received a 5.5 percent bump.

On September 11, OOSS submitted comments to the agency addressing a number of concerns related to the operations of ophthalmic ASCs. In our view, CMS should:

• permanently maintain use of the hospital-based outpatient department (HOPD) market basket as the annual update mechanism for ASC payments;
• apply the OPPS relative weights to ASC services and discontinue the rescaling of ASC relative weights. Rescaling has had the effect of arbitrarily and inappropriately reducing ASC payment rates and causing a substantial divergence in payment rates between HOPDs and ASCs that is unrelated to the costs of delivering services in those settings;
• develop a policy that covers all drugs that are administered at the time of cataract surgery, but are not integral or necessary to the cataract procedure, and have an FDA-approved indication to treat or prevent postoperative concerns, such as pain and inflammation (or, alternatively, indications reflected in specialty society guidelines or medical compendia) separately under Part B. Payment for drugs with expiring pass-through status should be extended through the Covid-19 public health emergency. Payment should also be extended to the HOPD setting;
• adjust the New Technology IOL (NTIOL) payment rate from $50 to $93 to account for inflation; and
• permanently withdraw proposed Measure ASC-11 from the ASC Quality Reporting Program and establish a measure reporting on toxic anterior segment syndrome (TASS).

OOSS has been fighting for many of these policy changes for several years. We will continue to press CMS to improve payment and reduce unnecessary regulation of ophthalmic ASCs.

OOSS Tools and Programs for Success

For more than 41 years, the mission of OOSS has been to represent the interests of ophthalmic ASCs, enabling our members to provide high quality, affordable patient care in effective and efficient surgery centers. We are fueled by our members and industry partners. OOSS is the only professional association solely dedicated to ophthalmic ASCs in the United States.

When a surgery center is an OOSS member, the entire staff has access to programs that can help optimize its operation, provide advice from industry experts and colleagues, benchmark the ASC’s performance, and save money.

In September, OOSS concluded its fall webinar series, which included programs on cataract co-management, compliance dilemmas, and planning for success with metrics and benchmarking. Educational videos from the fall webinar series, as well as other programs that provide industry experts’ advice on timely topics, can be viewed and shared at www.ooss.org/ondemand .

Members can also utilize OOSS Talk, our chat feature, to connect with peers and industry experts in real time to ask questions addressing big and small challenges. Another membership benefit is EyeProGPO, an ophthalmic group purchasing organization exclusively for OOSS members. There is no cost to participate. According to feedback from the more than 750 members of EyeProGPO, group purchasing allows members to save an average of 18 percent on supply costs, helping the ASC’s bottom line.

Membership in OOSS is an investment in your ASC. To join the organization or find out more about OOSS, visit www.ooss.org . ■