As care increasingly shifts from the inpatient to outpatient setting, U.S. News is committed to helping patients identify high quality surgery centers for the most commonly performed outpatient procedures. In 2024, we released the inaugural edition of the Best Ambulatory Surgery Centers ratings based on risk-adjusted, objective outcomes such as post-procedure complications, emergency department visits, unplanned inpatient admissions, and other undesirable results.
The second edition of the ratings will be published on usnews.com on March 18, 2025. Beginning February 20, ASC operators will be able to review embargoed results for their facility(s) by logging into the U.S. News Healthcare Dashboard. The embargoed methodology report for the 2025 ratings will be available along with embargoed results.
This year, to increase patient population homogeneity and improve outcome representativeness, we’ve made several methodological changes, as outlined below:
Facilities that did not perform key surgical orthopedic and/or spine operations for traditional Medicare beneficiaries will not be rated in Orthopedics & Spine in 2025. Previously, pain centers and certain ASCs that performed injections for back pain, but did not provide surgical care, received ratings in this specialty. Because these facilities have a lower-risk, lower-complexity case mix, they will not be evaluated against ASCs offering more comprehensive orthopedic and spine care. As a result of this methodology change, approximately 800 ambulatory facilities that received an Orthopedic & Spine rating last year will not be rated in that specialty this year.
Following feedback from experts, secondary membranous cataract surgery will no longer be included in the procedures evaluated in the Ophthalmology specialty. Also known as posterior capsulotomy or YAG laser capsulotomy, this minimally invasive procedure has lower risk than other surgical procedures evaluated in the Ophthalmology specialty rating, so we removed it to enhance homogeneity of procedure risk and complexity.
The emergency department visit outcome measure will not be used to evaluate ASCs in Ophthalmology in 2025. For some patients in that specialty, U.S. News couldn’t determine if an ED visit occurred soon after their surgery. As a result, the Ophthalmology ratings will primarily reflect performance on cost of complications, which includes expenses from emergency department visits.
In each specialty, a small share of ASCs will not receive a rating because of limitations in the data available to U.S. News. If we could not determine at least one of the evaluated outcomes (in Ophthalmology) or at least two of the outcomes (in other specialties) for a majority of the ASC’s traditional Medicare patients, the ASC will not receive a rating in that specialty.
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