By Pete Mercer
As value-based care gains momentum across the healthcare system, ambulatory surgery centers are increasingly at the forefront of the shift. Long valued for their efficiency and lower costs, these outpatient facilities are now being measured by a broader standard – one that emphasizes patient outcomes, care coordination, and accountability over volume. The continued rise of value-based care models in ambulatory surgery centers is beginning to reshape how procedures are delivered, financed, and evaluated, signaling a broader transformation in outpatient care.
Repertoire Magazine spoke to Blake Peart, managing director for Vertess, about the rise of value-based care in the ambulatory surgery space, how it’s going to impact patients and providers, and some emerging trends for the industry.
What is value-based care?
Value-based care is a payment model in healthcare designed to pay providers for the quality of patient outcomes, as opposed to the quantity of services rendered. This incentivizes providers to put a greater emphasis on the quality of care and patient wellness, moving towards a patient-centered approach to providing care.
While patients benefit significantly from an increased focus on better health outcomes, payers and providers also benefit from this model. Payers benefit from greater cost predictability and lower total spending, as value-based models reward efficiency and prevention rather than volume. For providers, while the shift requires new workflows and accountability, it offers opportunities to improve care quality, reduce waste, and share financial gains when outcomes and patient satisfaction improve.
Peart said, “A big part of the shift toward value-based care in ambulatory settings is all about performance. You have to provide good care, cut the cost, shorten the length of stay – you’re cutting costs from hospitals and clearing out the bottleneck in those systems. It’s an efficient system that works quickly. If it meets all the proper metrics for quality markers that need to be tracked, then you’ve got the right system.”
Value-based care is only one of the newer developments for ambulatory surgery centers, including things like expanded specialty services. As technology and care processes continue to improve, new services are added that would usually only be offered in the traditional hospital setting.
“It’s interesting how the eligibility criteria for surgery centers have evolved over the last 15 to 20 years,” Peart said. “You wouldn’t have seen things like total hips and knees in an ASC
25 years ago, but we’re seeing them now because the data supports it. This shows that we’re getting better quality markers, we’re saving money, and it’s obviously friendly to the patient, so we’re getting higher satisfaction levels. Plus, you’re not bogging down hospitals, allowing them to focus on what they need to be focused on.”
The role of convenience
Part of what makes value-based care a perfect fit for ambulatory surgery centers is the fact they already offer more convenience than the traditional hospital setting, Peart noted. Value-based care strengthens this advantage by encouraging care models that reduce unnecessary steps, improve coordination, and anticipate patient needs before and after surgery.
“I think it’s more convenient than going through the hospital system, with all the delays, loops, and hoops that people have to go through. Most patients don’t want to be in a hospital – they’d rather be in the surgery center environment and go home the same day.”
By aligning incentives around outcomes rather than volume, value-based approaches support smoother care journeys – making it easier for patients to access timely, high-quality surgical care without the friction and inefficiencies often associated with traditional hospital settings.
Peart also believes that ambulatory surgery centers can do things as effectively as hospitals can, without putting patients in jeopardy. “We keep seeing the bar go higher and higher. ASCs are doing ablations and other procedures in cardiac care that they never would have thought about 30 years ago.”
Now that there’s data to support the viability of these procedures in this setting, it opens the doors to a whole new wave of patients. These new procedures allow for new ways to implement value-based care, especially in post-op. Peart said that ambulatory surgery centers are now making referrals to rehab facilities, which is helping to build more continuity of care in this setting.
The future of value-based care and ASCs
How will value-based care models impact the future of ambulatory surgery centers? One of the bigger opportunities for this shift is that it places ambulatory surgery centers as a central part of the future of the healthcare industry.
For ambulatory surgery centers operating within a value-based care model, the future will likely demand a broader role and a higher level of accountability. These ASCs will move beyond focusing solely on procedural efficiency to managing outcomes across the full episode of care, from preoperative planning through recovery. Success will hinge on robust data capabilities, closer collaboration with physicians and payers, and a willingness to take on financial risk.
In the current political climate, it’s hard to determine exactly where the healthcare industry is headed. Peart argues that we are about to see a complete revamp of healthcare, but no one is sure what the tea leaves are indicating. As for value-based care, he explained that insurance companies and providers will always be looking for ways to justify a better rate, which usually falls back to a value-based care model.
“I think everyone is going to be challenged with some type of value-based care model moving forward,” Peart said. “I think insurance companies have been paid a lot of taxpayer dollars to supplement them, which might be coming to an end. I tell a lot of our customers to take advantage of the system now, before the policies change. It always happens.”
According to Peart, insurance carriers have received significant taxpayer-funded support in recent years through subsidies and stabilization programs, which are likely to be reduced as policy priorities shift. For the ambulatory surgery space, this creates predictable pressure on case rates, contract escalators, and authorizations. He said, “We are advising clients to act within the current reimbursement environment while it remains favorable, ahead of expected policy-driven adjustments.”
From Peart’s perspective, ambulatory surgery centers got an elevated influx of patients at the height of COVID, especially when hospitals were overrun with COVID patients. For patients that needed a procedure done and wanted to avoid COVID, ambulatory surgery centers became a great option. That surge in patients helped to raise the bar for ambulatory surgery centers, providing data to show that they could handle the increased workloads just like a hospital would.
“As far as 2026, value-based care will more directly shift financial risk onto ASCs through mandatory bundles and quality-based reimbursement, accelerating consolidation and favoring scaled operators that can manage outcomes, data reporting, and post-acute coordination across full episodes of care,” Peart said.
Key points
ASCs align naturally with value-based care. Their efficiency, lower costs, and strong patient satisfaction make ambulatory surgery centers well suited for payment models that reward outcomes over volume.
Expanded procedures are reshaping outpatient care. Advances in data, technology, and care coordination now allow ASCs to safely perform more complex procedures – relieving hospitals while maintaining high quality and convenience.
Greater accountability is coming. As value-based care expands, ASCs will face increased financial risk and responsibility for outcomes across the full episode of care, favoring centers with strong data capabilities and care coordination.