The number of Medicare-certified ASCs nearly doubled from 2000 to 2017, according to Avanza Healthcare Strategies' Outpatient Statistical Snapshot.
Here are 16 statistics on changes in the outpatient market over the past four decades:
Medicare-certified ASCs
1. 2000: 3,028
2. 2017: 5,634
Total Medicare payments to ASCs
3. 2010: $3.3 billion
4. 2015: $4.1 billion
Medicare payments to ASCs per fee-for-service beneficiary
5. 2010: $104
6. 2015: $122
Total Medicare outpatient FFS payments to hospitals
7. 2006: $29 billion
8. 2015: $58 billion
Outpatient costs
9. Average net cost per hospital-based surgical procedure: $4,337
10. Average net cost per freestanding, ASC-based procedure: $2,429
Hospitals
11. 1981: 6,933
12. 2016: 5,534
Average hospital outpatient visits per 1,000 people
13. 1999: 1,817 visits
14. 2015: 2,251 visits
Total community hospital outpatient visits
15. 1994: 383 million
16. 2014: 693 million
Note: Avanza gathered data from Advancing Surgical Care, Ambulatory Surgery Center Association, American Hospital Association, Blue Cross Blue Shield, CDC, Franklin Trust Ratings, Kaiser Family Foundation, Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, Moody's Investors Service and The New York Times.