More women are entering higher-paying physician specialties, particularly in surgery, according to a study published in JAMA. 

On Oct. 1, UnitedHealthcare's national prior authorization gold-card program went into effect. The payer announced the program in August and rolled out its list of eligible procedures on Sept. 1, which included several ASC-related codes. 

The five best small cities for education and health are in Massachusetts, according to a new ranking from Wallethub.

Nearly 50% of registered nurses take on extra work to supplement their yearly income, according to Medscape's 2024 "Gains Made, but a Ways to Go: "Medscape RN/LPN Compensation Report," published Oct. 2. 

Registered nurses earn an average annual total compensation of $95,000 in 2024, up nearly 7% from the year prior, according to Medscape's 2024 study, "Gains Made, but a Ways to Go: Medscape RN/LPN Compensation Report," published Oct. 2. 

As hospitals continue to shutter services, ASCs could see an influx in patients who have lost access to services through providers at hospitals or HOPDs. 

Brookline, Mass.-based First Psychiatric Planners, operating as Bournewood Health Systems and Bournewood Hospital, has agreed to pay between $5.5 million and $6.5 million to settle allegations it violated the False Claims Act by way of patient kickbacks.

Surgery Partners and Hyde Park Capital partnered to form Midwest Orthopedic and Musculoskeletal Alliance.

A fraud and kickback case against former Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare executives John Holland and William Moore, and co-defendant Edmundo Cota will proceed to trial after federal prosecutors won the right to use statements from 10 alleged co-conspirators, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Sept. 30. 

Nashville-based HCA Healthcare and Cigna Healthcare were in negotiations over a new contract well into the final day of their current agreement on Sept. 30, the Houston Business Journal reported. 

ASC chain Inova Surgery Center, an affiliate of Falls Church, Va.-based Inova Health, has been charged with violating the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act for firing an employee because of disability and age. 

According to predictions from business law firm Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein, recent certificate-of-need reform will likely lead to ASC expansions in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia, according to a Sept. 27 press release from JDSupra.

New York has the highest number of physician assistants per capita out of any state at 85.73 PAs for every 100,000 residents.

Physician legislators are circulating a letter asking their colleagues in Congress to address decreasing Medicare reimbursements. 

A hospital, a laboratory, three lab employees, a referring physician and his office manager will collectively pay more than  $7.2 million to settle allegations that they defrauded government healthcare programs through unnecessary or tainted laboratory testing. 

A physician and office manager in Jackson, Ky., agreed to pay $450,000 to resolve allegations the physician unlawfully prescribed controlled substances and they both defrauded healthcare by soliciting kickbacks. 

Site-neutral payments are a policy proposal that many ASC and physician groups have long supported in an effort to even out payments between ASCs and HOPDs. ASCs historically receive lower reimbursements for the same procedures performed in HOPDs, despite no evidence that care quality is different between the two settings. 

The Bryn Mawr, Pa.-based reproductive endocrinologist group, Main Line Fertility, was the busiest and highest revenue-producing ASC in the Philadelphia area in 2023, according to a Sept. 26 report from the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Hartford (Conn.) HealthCare has submitted a proposal to the state's Office of Health Strategy to assume control of two surgical center operators, according to a Sept. 27 report from Hartford Business. 

Millennial psychiatrists have the highest satisfaction with their pay of all other specialty physicians, according to a recent Medscape report.