Freestanding ASCs: ORs per 1000 population

Operating rooms in freestanding ambulatory surgery centers / 1,000 population

• 0.0462 US average
• 0.0032 Vermont
• 0.0429 California
• 0.1163 District of Columbia

[Note: These ratios are given as “per 100,000” in the original source — I converted them to “per 1,000.”]

These data are from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and represent data for Medicare- approved freestanding ambulatory surgery centers.  The report that they are cited in was prepared by the California HealthCare Foundation. Much of the data come from a California state government source, with some CMS data added in.

Unfortunately for us datahounds, this enticing report is not as robust as it might be.  A court decision in California a few years ago had the side effect of releasing freestanding ASCs from reporting data to the state and, lo and behold, the number of ASCs choosing to continue to report on a voluntary basis plummeted.  But, the numbers that I include above come from CMS and are not affected by this court decision.

Source: California HealthCare Foundation.  California Health Care Almanac: Ambulatory Surgery Centers, Big Business, Little Data.  Oakland, CA: The Foundation, June 2013.  Click here for access to text: http://www.chcf.org/almanac  Posted by AHA Resource Center, (312) 422-2050, rc@aha.org