Design Consideration As Procedures Move From The OR To ASC And Office Settings

One of the greatest concerns in the medical field today is the rising costs of healthcare. This rise is due to a variety of factors including population growth, patients living longer, increasing rates of chronic illnesses, and increased access to healthcare (partly due to government policies). According to a 2019 report by CMS, the largest amount of spending (approximately 31%) went towards hospital care.ⁱ Care at hospitals is expensive for a variety of reasons including the overhead (>67% of costs) associated with large pieces of capital equipment, stringent regulatory requirements, and other costs related to needing the hospital to be open at all times. ⁱⁱ

Thus, it is not a surprise that one way insurance companies focus on reducing costs is by shifting surgical procedures from expensive hospital operating rooms to Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASC) and in some cases office-based settings with the greatly decreased overhead. Studies have shown savings of 57% or more by shifting procedures to ASCs.ⁱⁱⁱ From 2012 – 2017, there was a 8.8% increase of orthopedic procedures being performed in ASCs as a result.^iv