On July 11, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed Senate Invoice 818 (“SB 818”) into regulation, which amends the Well being Care Services Act to broaden the variety of procedures which may be carried out in an ambulatory surgical procedure middle (“ASC”) and to determine shorter timeframes for Division of Well being responses to requests for exceptions and waivers.
The brand new regulation expands the listing of procedures which might be allowed to be carried out in Pennsylvania ASCs by aligning that listing with these procedures contained within the 2022 Ambulatory Surgical Heart Coated Procedures Record (“ASC-CPL”) revealed by the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Companies (“CMS”). The ASC-CPL specifies surgical procedures that CMS has decided might be appropriately and safely carried out on an ambulatory foundation in an ASC, vital entry hospital, or hospital outpatient division. Pennsylvania ASCs not must petition the Division of Well being for an exception or waiver to carry out a process already listed within the ASC-CPL except there may be one other battle with state laws.
For these procedures that also require an exception or waiver, the brand new regulation units shorter timeframes for a course of that in some situations took months or a couple of yr. The Division of Well being should reply to an exception or waiver request inside 60 days of receipt and supply a written response to the requestor. Any denial should embody particular statutory or regulatory grounds for the choice. If additional info is required to make a dedication, the Division should additionally reply inside 60 days of receiving such extra info.
SB 818 additionally permits cardiac catheterizations to be carried out in ASCs. Beforehand, Pennsylvania regulation solely allowed these procedures to be carried out in acute care hospitals.
The brand new regulation will take impact on September ninth.
Please contact Jonathan Schall at jschall@foxrothschild.com with any questions you will have about how this new Pennsylvania regulation could impression your ambulatory surgical procedure middle.
