May 16, 2008 – The Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCs) inaugural meeting (ASCs 2008) opened yesterday with a full-day program filled with more than 20 sessions on topics as Medicare and ASCs, state politics affecting ASCs, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) findings on ambulatory surgery and more.
This marks the first conference since the American Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers (AAASC) and Federated Ambulatory Surgery Association (FASA) merged at the beginning of the year to form the ASC Association.
Utah State Senator Allen Christensen, addressing the more than 2,800 meeting participants, urged all ASC professionals to join their national and state trade associations, talk to their elected officials and the media and form coalitions that will further ASC initiatives. He also advised ASCs to encourage patients to speak out on behalf of ASCs, saying, “Patient power can be something - when used properly - that can have an enormous impact on elected officials.”
ASC Association President Kathy Bryant, who briefed attendees on recent changes in the Medicare ASC payment system and what those changes mean for ASCs, reiterated the Senator’s calls to action.
The National Center for Health Statistics’ Karen Cullen presented preliminary findings from the CDC’s national survey on ambulatory surgery. According to Cullen, ASCs and HOPDs are providing comparable services to comparable populations with comparable results. More distinctions may emerge as the data reports are further analyzed.
For more information: http://www.ascassociation.org/
December 03, 2020 
