(Image credit: Adobestock/Atipong & Us News)
US News & World Report has released its US Best Outpatient Surgery Center (ASCS) for Ophthalmology and the second annual insight into colonoscopy and endoscopy, orthopedics and spine, and urology.
US News & World Report defines ASC as “an independent health care facility specializing in providing surgical and diagnostic procedures that do not require an overnight stay.” In ophthalmological specialties, tissues looked at centers that performed cataract surgery with lens implants, destruction of retinal or choroidal lesions with lasers (or other), glaucoma surgery, and surgical retinal and vitreous procedures.
Tissue noted that feedback from ophthalmological experts has resulted in secondary membranous cataract surgery, also known as posterior capsuleectomy or YAG laser capsulotomy, no longer included in the procedure being evaluated. This is due to a procedure that is “lower risk than other surgical procedures evaluated in the ophthalmology specialty.” Patients diagnosed with COVID-19 during the procedure were also excluded from further analysis.
The outpatient surgery center was assessed based on an “objective and risk-adjusted measure” of patient outcomes. This avoided complications, ER visits, unplanned hospitalizations and other undesired consequences. However, in the case of ophthalmology, ER visits were not included as outcome measures as they could not determine whether the ER visit occurred immediately after surgery. Complication costs and mortality were also assessed.
The tissue also noted that independent facilities where outpatient surgery occurs are classified as hospitals. This is because such facilities may be licensed under the CMS accreditation number belonging to the associated hospital and are part of the outpatient department of the associated hospital. These hospital-based facilities were not included in the analysis, as organizations rated the best hospitals separately.
The 2025 assessment compiled data from Medicare Fee (FFS) billing for services provided between 2021 and 2023. The National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) and ASC Quality Reporting (ASCQR) programs were used to identify facilities for inclusion in the analysis.
Overall, over 6,000 ASCs were included in the initial analysis, of which 1,910 were evaluated in ophthalmology. Of these 1,910 ASCs, 230 were rated as high performance (12%), 1,440 was average (75%), and 240 was rated as “other” (~13%).
California, Texas and Florida ranked among the top three states with 33, 22 and 21 high-performance ASCs. Additionally, Los Angeles, Atlanta and New York were ranked among the top three metro areas with high performance ASCs of 11, 7, and 7.
States with high-performance ASCs include:
California – 33texas – 22florida – 21pennsylvania – 14georgia – 11arizona – 8louisiana, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia – 7 Massachusetts, Michigan, South Carolina – 6arkansas, Indiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Mississippi, Oklahoma – Missouri, Missouri, Illinois, Illinois, Washington 4
Additionally, Metro areas with the best performance ASC include:
Los Angeles – 11atlanta, New York – 7dallas-ft. Worth, Philadelphia, Phoenix – 6houston, Miami Fton. Lauderdale, Pittsburgh – 5 Tampa-St. Virginia Beach, Petersburg – 4
In particular, the ASCs rated as high performance by US News had an average 54% lower severity-added complication rate compared to all ASCs assessed by ophthalmic procedures.
The complete list of the best ophthalmological outpatient surgery centers is available online from US News.
*Metro has an ASC of ≤3, with unlisted states. Reference: US News & World Report releases the second best outpatient surgery center rating of the year. US News & World Report. Released on March 18th, 2025. Accessed March 18, 2025. https://www.usnews.com/info/blogs/press-room/articles/2025-03-18/us-news-world-report-releases-second-annual-best-amburatory-centers-ratenters25 best ambulater ratenters25 US News & World Report. Accessed on March 18th, 2025. http://health.usnews.com/best-ascs?src=usn_pr
