The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 updated exceptions to Stark Law and Anti-Kickback law that will allow hospitals and healthcare providers to improve mental health services for physicians, attorneys from law firm ArentFox Schiff wrote in an article published by JDSupra on June 13. 

OptumHealth's network of providers and surgery centers is seeing strong outpatient surgery volumes, especially for hips, knees and senior services.

Harry Severance, MD, an adjunct assistant professor at Durham, N.C.-based Duke University School of Medicine, joined Becker's to discuss how physicians can leverage their power. 

Physicians and ASCs continue to raise concerns about the adequacy of Medicare reimbursement as operating costs continue to soar. 

MedPAC advocated for site-neutral pay for 66 outpatient procedures in a June 15 report, lowering 57 procedures to the office-based care rate and nine procedures to ASC rates.

Here are five healthcare antikickback cases to know from the last month:

The Ohio Legislature has introduced a new bill designed to streamline the prior authorization process by giving a yearlong exemption to providers who have an average of 80 percent or more of their requests approved, according to a June 12 report from NBC affiliate WKYC.

Here are four stories Becker's has covered about CVS Health's insurance company, Aetna, since April 20: 

The American Medical Association is taking action to ban noncompete contracts for physicians employed by for-profit or nonprofit hospitals, hospital systems or staffing company employers, according to a June 13 blog post from the AMA. 

Two major national payers, UnitedHealthcare and Cigna, recently switched or delayed planned policies due to pushback from industry leaders, patients and physicians. 

The future of ASCs heavily depends on the outcome of the struggle for better payments.

The Connecticut Legislature has passed a bill amending the state's physician noncompete statute, attorney Justin Theriault of law firm Jackson Lewis P.C. wrote in an article published by JDSupra on June 12. 

Forbes has released its annual Global 2000, a ranking of the world's largest companies based on metrics including sales, profits, assets and market value. 

The Supreme Court voted unanimously to reopen two false claims cases, issuing an opinion that could expand antifraud statute scope, Medscape reported June 13. 

Artificial intelligence-powered coding services provider Aideo Technologies has partnered with Surgical Notes, a leader in providing billing solutions for ASCs, to bring AI-powered medical coding workflow and productivity solutions to the ASC market. 

Physician David Becerril, MD, has been charged with 16 counts for his role in a telemarketing scheme that allegedly defrauded Medicare of more than $4 million. 

The most commonly performed ASC procedure is an extracapsular cataract removal with insertion of intraocular lens prosthesis, according to data from Definitive Healthcare. The average cash price of a cataract eye surgery is $2,733 at ASCs, versus $3,995 at  hospital outpatient departments, according to data from Sidecar Health's care price calculator. 

Here are five updates from CMS that Becker's has reported on since June 6:

Massachusetts' high healthcare prices and the financial burden it has consequently placed on patients is causing state lawmakers to take a hard look at healthcare spending, WBUR reported June 8.

The growth of ASCs reflects their status as a proven model for high-quality procedures and low costs, but their development faces a considerable obstacle in many markets: certificate-of-need laws.