Category: ASC News

How to navigate Stark Law post-pandemic: 3 tips

HHS issued blanket waivers of physician self-referral laws that will remain in effect for the duration of the COVID-19 national emergency, which President Joe Biden has recently extended beyond April. 

Physicians’ biggest threats

Physicians are plagued by increasing administrative duties and burnout exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

1 in 5 physicians are depressed, survey says 

Twenty-one percent of physicians reported being depressed in 2022, according to Medscape’s “Physician Suicide Report 2022” published March 4.

Massachusetts ASC nurse agrees to plea deal in fentanyl-tampering case 

A nurse from an outpatient vascular surgery center in Berkley, Mass., has agreed to plead guilty in federal court to tampering with a consumer product, fentanyl intended for a patient, the Justice Department said March 4. 

Companies using noncompetes may be criminally prosecuted, Justice Department signals

The Justice Department has opened the door to criminally prosecute companies that have noncompete agreements it deems too restrictive and in violation of antitrust laws, according to a report in JDSupra, a legal analysis company.

Ophthalmologist gets 8 years in prison for surgical billing scheme and COVID-19 fraud

Former ophthalmologist Ameet Goyal, owner of Rye (N.Y.) Eye Associates, was sentenced to 96 months in prison for a seven-year fraudulent healthcare billing scheme and for fraudulently obtaining two government-guaranteed small business loans, the Justic…

The soft tissue surgical device industry could be nearing a boom

Surgeons from Tampa, Fla.-based Hospital for Endocrine Surgery are partnering with bioskills laboratory Five Labs, also in Tampa, to develop products used in endocrine surgery and other soft-tissue surgeries and to train surgeons in advanced endocrine …

6 ASC acquisitions making headlines

Below are six ASC acquisitions that occurred in the past 25 days:

Defensive medicine is costing healthcare billions

Most discussions about improving quality and lowering cost of healthcare focus on precision medicine, value-based care and lowering drug and supply costs. But there is one area costing billions of dollars per year that is rarely noted — defensive medic…

All 50 states ranked by specialists per capita

There are more than 1 million physicians in the U.S., according to a January 2022 Kaiser Family Foundation report. Some states appear to be more saturated with specialists than others. Texas, which is predicted to have one of the worst physician shorta…