Category: ASC News

ASCs leaders and physicians are at a pressure point between rising inflation, increased demand for healthcare services and declining reimbursements from Medicare and private payers. 

Nearly 99%Medicare Advantage patients are required to obtain prior authorization for certain services. 

A jury has determined that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana shortchanged a New Orleans-based surgical center by more than $400 million, according to a Sept. 24 report from NOLA.com. 

Thirty-seven percent of physicians say private payers had “quite a bit” or “a great deal” of influence over treatment decisions, according to Medscape’s 2024 “Physician-Private Payer Relationship Report Report.” 

A large majority of physicians, 74%, frown upon nurses with clinical PhDs calling themselves “doctor” according to Medscape’s 2024 “Hot Topics in the Medical Profession Report,” published Sept. 18. 

Lehigh Valley (Pa.) Health Network agreed to pay $65 million in a proposed settlement of a class action lawsuit affecting 134,000 patients and employees, the Information Security Media Group reported Sept. 23. 

Husband and wife John Johnson, MD, and Paula Johnson, MD, of Hollidaysburg, Pa., were sentenced for conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and healthcare fraud conspiracy.

Physicians in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. are the unhappiest with private-payer reimbursement rates, according to Medscape’s 2024 “Physician-Private Payer Relationship Report,” published Sept. 20. 

Healthcare jobs are the most likely to include signing bonuses among all job posts on Indeed.com, according to The Wall Street Journal, and surgery centers are still using them to attract talent.

Thirty six percent of physicians above the age of 46 experienced a pay cut in the last year, according to a recent Physicians Foundation survey.