Ambulatory Surgical Treatment Center and Outpatient Diagnostic Center Data Systems

Traditionally surgeries were performed in hospitals as inpatient procedures. But in past years, a new trend arose. Concerns about rising hospital costs have led to an increasing proportion of surgeries being performed on an outpatient basis.

With the shift to outpatient surgery a second trend arose. Numerous outpatient surgery facilities were built independent of hospitals. These facilities, called ambulatory surgical treatment centers, specialize in performing outpatient surgeries. They do not offer the full range of services provided by a hospital. An increasing proportion of surgeries are now being performed in these facilities. The Department of Health has been collecting information from UB-04 billing claims on all outpatient surgeries performed in Tennessee hospitals since 1995 and started collecting from Ambulatory Surgical Treatment Centers (ASTC) in 2007.

  T. C. A. 68-1-119 requires each licensed ambulatory surgical treatment center (ASTC) and each licensed outpatient diagnostic center (ODC) in the state to report its claims data to the Tennessee Department of Health. Administrative rule 1200-7-4 was promulgated by the Department to carry out this legislative mandate. This data is to be reported quarterly in the appropriate format via third party entities approved by the Department. Personal identifiers are to be kept confidential. Penalties are prescribed for failure to report.

Patient Record Data Systems (PRDS), part of the Division of Population Health Assessment, has been charged by the Department to carry out this project. Each ASTC will transmit its records to the vendor it has selected. Each vendor will send the records it has received from its ambulatory surgical treatment centers to PRDS.

Ambulatory Surgical Treatment Centers User Manuals

Data Submission Forms