title: Ambulatory Surgery Centers and Prices in Hospital Outpatient Departments.
abstract: Specialty providers claim to offer a new competitive benchmark for efficient delivery of health care. This article explores this view by examining evidence for price competition between ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs). I studied the impact of ASC market presence on actual prices paid to HOPDs during 2007-2010 for four common surgical procedures that were performed in both provider types. For the procedures examined, HOPDs received payments from commercial insurers in the range of 3.25% to 5.15% lower for each additional ASC per 100,000 persons in a market. HOPDs may have less negotiating leverage with commercial insurers on price in markets with high ASC market penetration, resulting in relatively lower prices.
authors.affiliation: 1 Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Carey
mesh_terms: D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000556:Ambulatory Surgical Procedures / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis / Q000191:economics*; D004465:Economic Competition / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D007345:Insurance Claim Review / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010045:Outpatients
keywords: hospitals; prices; surgery centers