TASCS's Official Comments for Texas Workers’ Compensation
AUSTIN (July 10, 2008) – The Texas Ambulatory Surgery Center Society (TASCS) submitted its official comments on the proposed fee guidelines for ASCs to Commissioner Albert Betts of the Texas Department of Insurance – Division of Workers’ Compensation (TDI-DWC).
Some highlights of TASCS’s comments included:
- There should be parity in reimbursement between ASCs and hospital outpatient departments (HOPD) when performing the same procedures on injured workers, as do the states of California and Tennessee.
- There is concern regarding TDI-DWC's use of Medicare fees and methodology in developing fee guidelines for injured workers in Texas. Workers' compensation patients are much more different than Medicare-eligible patients.
- As the proposed rules are currently written, the ASC reimbursement rate is 76 percent of HOPD. TASCS requests that the rules be amended to increase reimbursement to 246 percent for non-device intensive procedures and 160 percent for device intensive procedures. This would equate to 80 percent of the HOPD.
- The proposed rules do not address the potential for Medicare to keep reimbursement rates frozen. TASCS requests the addition of a Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U) adjustment should Medicare choose to remain frozen in any outlying year.
Please contact TASCS Executive Director Bobby Hillert (bhillert@texasascsociety.org | 214.728.7672) if you would like a copy of the letter.
About TASCS
The Texas Ambulatory Surgery Center Society (TASCS) is the state organization that represents and serves the nearly
400 ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) in Texas. TASCS provides support and advocacy services to Texas ASCs.
TASCS was founded in 2003.