Non-opioid pain
therapies
The Trump administra-
tion has made dealing
with the opioid crisis a
priority. ASCA pointed
out to the administra-
tion that, in terms of
Medicare policy, CMS
wouldn't reimburse
ASCs for using some
non-opioid pain thera-
pies. They agreed to
pay ASCs separately
for using some non-
opioid pain relief dur-
ing a procedure that would reduce the likelihood of having to prescribe
opioids after the procedure. Right now, this only applies to one drug —
the local anesthetic Exparel (liposomal bupivacaine) — but there are
other non-opioid approaches, like pain pumps and other modalities,
that have the same positive impact on reducing pain without the use of
opioids, for which CMS should also separately reimburse.
OSM
Mr. Prentice (wprentice@ascassociation.org) is the CEO of the Ambulatory
Surgery Center Association, the national membership association that assists
ambulatory surgery centers in delivering safe, high-quality, cost-effective patient
care, based in Alexandria, Va.
3
J U L Y 2 0 1 9 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 3 1
• DEVICE-INTENSIVE THRESHOLD Beginning this year, the cost of a device must
be 30% or more of the total cost of procedure in the hospital outpatient setting in
order for an ambulatory surgery center to get paid separately for the device. This is
down from 50% just a few years ago.