Outpatient Surgery Access Act of 2026

This legislation, titled the "Outpatient Surgery Access Act of 2026," seeks to modernize the payment system for ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) under the Medicare program. Its primary goal is to align the financial incentives and payment methodologies for ASCs more closely with those of hospital outpatient departments (OPDs). Beginning in 2027, the bill mandates that the annual update applied to ASC services will be equivalent to the Outpatient Department (OPD) fee schedule increase factor , ensuring consistent growth rates across these settings. Furthermore, it eliminates the requirement for a separate, ASC-specific budget neutrality adjustment, which previously ensured that changes to ASC payments did not increase or decrease aggregate expenditures for those services alone. Instead, the bill directs the Secretary to include ASC expenditures when calculating the overall budget neutrality adjustments for outpatient services , effectively integrating ASCs into the broader outpatient payment system's financial framework.