Doctor owned surgery centers spark controversy

Doctors who refer a large bulk of their business to their doctor-owned ambulatory surgery centers were more likely to send well-insured patients to the centers while referring lower-paying Medicaid patients to hospital outpatient departments, according to a study of two Pennsylvania healthcare markets published in the March 18 edition of Health Affairs. Physician-owners with high rates of referrals to their doctor-owned ASCs directed Medicaid patients to hospital outpatient units at a rate about 36 percentage points higher than they directed patients with higher-paying private insurance to outpatient departments, the authors found.