Robert Holly

Improper payments in Medicare and Medicaid – overpayments, underpayments, or payments where insufficient information was provided to determine whether a payment was “proper” – remain on the downswing. Specifically, the estimated improper payment rate for fee-for-service Medicare in Fiscal Year 2025 was 6.55%, or $28.8 billion, according to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). That’s down from 7.66%, or $31.7 billion, for Fiscal Year 2024. Contextually, the Medicare … [Read more...]

A new McKinsey & Company report paints a sobering picture of U.S. health care over the next several years, marked by margin pressure, policy disruption and uneven recovery. Yet amid the turbulence, ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) and outpatient care models are positioned for sustained growth. “Post-acute and outpatient care continue as bright spots supported by segments such as home health, hospice, and [ASCs], with an aging population and continued site-of-care shifts fueling … [Read more...]

Distalmotion has secured a strategic investment from Johnson & Johnson Innovation to bolster expansion of its DEXTER robotic surgery system into ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), the company announced Monday. The move underscores growing interest in deploying robotic technologies outside of traditional hospital settings. For the Lausanne, Switzerland-based medical technology company, the backing adds to its momentum following a $150 million Series G financing round in 2025, which … [Read more...]

If 2026 is shaping up to be a defining year for the ambulatory surgery center (ASC) business model, it is also one that will test its limits. Rising labor costs, payer complexity, anesthesia shortages and margin pressure are operational realities that executives are confronting daily. The shift of higher-acuity cases into outpatient settings continues, but the economic and workforce infrastructure needed to support that growth has not always kept pace. For many operators, the challenge is … [Read more...]

Apella, a hospital technology company focused on operating room efficiency, has raised $80 million in new funding. The infusion of new capital comes as health systems and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) alike grapple with mounting capacity constraints and growing pressure to do more with leaner teams. The Series B round, which combines equity and venture debt, underscores investor confidence in so-called ambient AI and computer vision tools that promise to automate some of the most … [Read more...]

The decision from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to allow cardiac catheter ablation procedures in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) for the first time marks an important step in the evolution of outpatient cardiovascular care. Finalized in the 2026 payment rule, the change reflects growing confidence that ablations can be performed safely in well-equipped outpatient settings, supported by advances in technology, clinical evidence and care pathways that enable … [Read more...]

Compass Surgical Partners has named Mark Langston its new CEO. The change comes as the large and fast-growing ambulatory surgery center (ASC) management company prepares for its next phase of expansion amid accelerating shifts toward outpatient care. "Compass is at a point where growth is happening across multiple existing partnerships, while we also look ahead to adding new health system partnerships in 2026 and beyond," Langston said in a press release. "My focus as CEO is on building … [Read more...]

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) this week took major steps to operationalize one of the largest federal investments in rural health care in decades, formally establishing a new agency office and announcing the distribution of $50 billion in funding to all 50 states aimed at strengthening care delivery in rural communities. On Dec. 29, CMS announced the creation of the Office of Rural Health Transformation (ORHT) within the agency’s Center for Medicaid and CHIP … [Read more...]

Not every story that shapes the ambulatory surgery center (ASC) industry does so with splashy headlines or massive traffic numbers. Some of the most consequential developments unfold more quietly: through pilot programs, early-stage platforms, regulatory experiments or strategic bets that signal where the market may be headed next. In 2025, ASC News published several such stories that didn’t dominate the click charts but offered insight into how outpatient care is evolving beneath the … [Read more...]

From seismic policy shifts to blockbuster deals and the accelerating migration of higher-acuity care into the outpatient setting, 2025 was a defining year for the ambulatory surgery center (ASC) industry. ASC News readers gravitated toward stories that captured an industry in transition – one balancing rapid growth and innovation with mounting regulatory action, reimbursement pressures, and questions about scale, ownership and independence. Clinical evolution was another important theme. … [Read more...]