Here are seven updates:
SCA partners with Raritan Valley Surgery Center
With this partnership, SCA's New Jersey footprint increases to 13 locations and 19 additional physicians. RVSC is a physician-led surgery center, jointly owned by SCA and physician investors.
CMS: Healthcare spending to rise 5.8%
From 2015 to 2025, CMS projects healthcare spending will rise 5.8 percent. While physician and clinical services spending rose 5.4 percent in 2015, medical prices increased merely 0.8 percent last year. Physician prices fell 1.1 percent last year.
CMS open to MACRA delay
In a meeting with the Senate Finance Committee, CMS Acting Administrator Andy Slavitt said the agency would consider delaying Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, which is currently set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2017. CMS is also open to different start dates to allow providers and practices sufficient time to prepare for MACRA.
Physicians fight to retract BMJ medical error study
Two physicians wrote a blog post, arguing the BMJ study represents "a shoddy piece of scientific and statistical work which cannot stand the close scrutiny of peer physician researchers and professional statisticians," and claim the study is not a meta-analysis since researchers derived data from one 2004 Healthgrades study. Retraction opponents claim it is unfair to use the word "meta-analysis," as the Johns Hopkins study authors did not use the term in the paper.
HCV treatment costs range from $83k to $150k
A Lancet Infectious Diseases study found HCV treatments are priced from $83,320 to $150,000 for 84 pills in total. A separate study found that the cost to produce one pill was just $1.20.
MFC pens letter of intent to acquire Unity Medical and Surgical Hospital
Per the letter of intent, Medical Facilities Corp. would acquire an indirect 83 percent interest in the physician-owned medical and surgical hospital. MFC is funding the deal on available cash as well as a draw of MFC's credit facility.
Complications less common at accredited bariatric surgery centers
A Journal of the American College of Surgeons study found of the 11 studies that evaluated postoperative complications, eight found that undergoing a bariatric operation in an accredited facility reduced the risk of having a serious complication by 9 percent to 39 percent.
More healthcare news:
Central Indiana Orthopedics plans new $52M medical campus, ASC: 5 things to know
MEDARVA challenges Virginia health department's CON denial recommendation: 5 key takeaways
Dispelling the myth of single use device reprocessing: How this ASC saved $59k & diverted 4.7k lbs of waste