Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Covered Procedure List (CPL) Pre-Proposed Rule Recommendation Request (CMS-10809)

The ASC CPL (Ambulatory Surgical Center Covered Procedures List) was authorized in accordance with section 1833(i)(1) of the Social Security Act, which requires the Secretary to specify surgical procedures which are appropriately performed on an inpatient basis in a hospital but which also can be performed safely on an ambulatory basis in an ASC, critical access hospital, or hospital outpatient department. The statute also requires the Secretary to regularly review and update the ASC CPL. CMS annually reviews and updates the ASC CPL. Surgical procedure codes nominated and sent in by external interested parties, for example, medical specialty societies or other members of the public, are a key part of this review.. During annual rulemaking, CMS receives surgical procedure code nominations from a variety of external interested parties and evaluates them for inclusion to the CPL in the OPPS/ASC proposed rule. After reviewing the nominations and evaluating them against the relevant criteria, CMS proposes the list of procedures that they will add to the CPL for the following calendar year. The public has 60 days to comment on the proposals, CMS takes these perspectives into account, and the final list of procedure nominations are finalized in the OPPS/ASC final rule. In the CY 2022 OPPS/ASC final rule, CMS finalized a formalized process for interested parties to nominate procedures to be added to the ASC CPL. CMS anticipated that interested parties, such as specialty societies that specialize in and have a deep understanding of the complexities involved in providing certain procedures, would be able to provide valuable suggestions as to which additional procedures may reasonably and safely be performed in an ASC. While members of the public may already suggest procedures to be added to the ASC CPL through meetings with CMS or through public comments on the proposed rule, CMS believed it would be beneficial to enable the public, particularly specialty societies who are very familiar with procedures in their specialty, to formally nominate procedures based on the latest evidence available as well as input from their memberships.

The latest form for Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Covered Procedure List (CPL) Pre-Proposed Rule Recommendation Request (CMS-10809) expires 2027-01-31 and can be found here.