The Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Association reports CMS will allow an exception to new prior notification rules.
On May 18, CMS required ASCs to provide patients with advance notice and information on their rights and any physician financial interest in the ASC before the date of a surgery -- with no exceptions (subscribers can read more, here). But now CMS has posted an exception in a May 15 memo on "State Operations Manual (SOM) Appendix L, Ambulatory Surgical Centers (ASC) Comprehensive Revision."
Here is the exception:
"It is not acceptable for the ASC to provide the required notice for the first time to a patient on the day that the surgical procedure is scheduled to occur, unless:
• the referral to the ASC for surgery is made on that same date; and
• the referring physician indicates, in writing, that it is medically necessary for the patient to have the surgery on the same day, and that surgery in an ASC setting is suitable for that patient.
In such situations the ASC must provide the required notice prior to obtaining the patient's informed consent. Cases of surgery occurring on the same day it is scheduled are expected to be rare, since ASCs typically perform elective procedures. Frequent occurrence of such cases may represent noncompliance with the advance notice requirement. Notice must be provided regardless of the type of procedure scheduled to be performed."