title: Does procedure profitability impact whether an outpatient surgery is performed at an ambulatory surgery center or hospital?
abstract: Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are small (typically physician owned) healthcare facilities that specialize in performing outpatient surgeries and therefore compete against hospitals for patients. Physicians who own ASCs could treat their most profitable patients at their ASCs and less profitable patients at hospitals. This paper asks if the profitability of an outpatient surgery impacts where a physician performs the surgery. Using a sample of Medicare patients from the National Survey of Ambulatory Surgery, we find that higher profit surgeries do have a higher probability of being performed at an ASC compared to a hospital. After controlling for surgery type, a 10% increase in a surgery's profitability is associated with a 1.2 to 1.4 percentage point increase in the probability the surgery is performed at an ASC.
authors.affiliation: Abt Associates Inc., Cambridge, MA, USA. mplotzke@wustl.edu
authors.forename: Michael Robert
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Plotzke
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Courtemanche
mesh_terms: D000556:Ambulatory Surgical Procedures / Q000145:classification / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D005251:Fees, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D006278:Medicare / Q000191:economics* / Q000592:standards; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013531:Surgicenters / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States