New Ambulatory Fee Schedules Official After Three Years of Litigation

After three years of litigation and a do-over on the rule-making process, new fees for ambulatory surgery centers in North Carolina officially took effect this week, shifting from a charge-based system to a Medicare-based fee schedule designed to limit costs. The fee schedules were formally approved by the state legislature this spring. That makes official most of the rules that the state’s Industrial Commission adopted in 2015 but were called into question by a court ruling. Instead of getting paid at 67% of what they charge, as was the case for years, freestanding ambulator...