PHC4 | Financial Analysis 2009

Financial Analysis 2009 - News Release

Contact: Stephanie Suran, Communications Manager
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NUMBER OF AMBULATORY SURGERY CENTERS GROWS; PROFITS LEVEL OFF

Harrisburg, PA - October 7, 2010 - The number of freestanding ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) licensed in Pennsylvania continues to grow, according to a new report from the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4). Between fiscal years 2008 and 2009 (FY08 and FY09), 19 new ASCs opened and one closed, bringing the statewide total to 262. By comparison, there were only 72 ASCs in the state in FY00.

The statewide average total margin for the ASCs increased by 0.18 of a percentage point from 26.08% in FY08 to 26.26% in FY09. This represents a leveling off as the statewide total margin for ASCs increased 14.84 percentage points between FY01 and FY09 – an average of about 1.86 percentage points per year.

“The number of new ASCs in Pennsylvania was 19 in FY09, down slightly from the 22 new facilities added in FY08,” said Joe Martin, PHC4’s Executive Director. “While statewide margins for ASCs did not increase quite as much as in some prior years, they remain highly profitable overall.”

In order to publicly release ASC financial data earlier, PHC4 is separating its Financial Analysis 2009, Volume Two report into two issues. This year’s Volume Two focuses only on ASCs. A separate report, Volume Three, which will be released later this year, will focus on non-general acute care hospitals (rehabilitation, psychiatric, long-term acute care and specialty hospitals) that were previously included in Volume Two.

Other report highlights:

The statewide average operating margin for the ASCs increased by 0.21 of a percentage point from 26.00% in FY08 to 26.21% in FY09.
During FY09, the net growth in the number of outpatient procedures performed in outpatient units of general acute care (GAC) hospitals and ASCs combined increased 1.8%. From FY08 to FY09, the number of these procedures performed at GAC outpatient units decreased 0.6%, while the number at ASCs increased 7.2%.
There has been a 68.4% growth in the total number of outpatient procedures performed in Pennsylvania between FY00 and FY09. More than 65.1% of that growth has occurred at ASCs.
The payer mix for the outpatient procedures performed at ASCs differs from GAC outpatient units.
- The ASCs reported that 4.1% of their patients undergoing outpatient procedures were Medical Assistance participants, compared to 11.0% of patients at GAC outpatient units.
- The ASCs reported that 53.8% of their patients undergoing outpatient procedures were covered by commercial health insurance, compared to 46.8% of patients at GAC outpatient units.

The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council is an independent state agency charged with collecting, analyzing and reporting information that can be used to improve the quality and restrain the cost of health care in Pennsylvania. Copies of Financial Analysis 2009, Volume Two are free and available on the Council’s website at http://www.phc4.org.