Here are seven updates:
AmSurg acquires Premier Emergency Medical Specialists
Sheridan, the physician services division of AmSurg, acquired Premier Emergency Medical Specialists. The acquisition marks Sheridan's first entry into the emergency medicine specialty in the Phoenix market. PEMS is comprised of 49 physicians who provide emergency services for Chandler Regional Medical Center and Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, both located in Arizona.
Kaiser to acquire Group Health in $1.8B deal
Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente signed a definitive agreement to acquire Seattle-based Group Health Cooperative. Group Health Cooperative includes a healthcare and insurance arm, similar to Kaiser.
SCA partners with Surgery Center of Athens
Surgical Care Affiliates partnered with 13 physicians of Surgery Center of Athens (Ga.). The partnership went into effect Dec. 1, and SCA now has three locations in Georgia. The Surgery Center of Athens is a multispecialty facility offering ENT, gastroenterology, general surgery, gynecology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, podiatry and urology services.
DOJ rakes in $1.9B in healthcare fraud recoveries
The Department of Justice received more than $3.5 billion in settlements and judgments from civil cases involving fraud and false claims against the government in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30. Of the $3.5 billion, the DOJ recovered $1.9 billion from companies and individuals in the healthcare industry.
Aetna, Humana implore Florida regulators to approve merger
On Monday, Aetna and Humana urged Florida regulators to approve their merger. The payers claim the merger will create a projected $1.25 billion in cost savings over time. The payers claim the cost savings would create better benefits and new programs for nearly 3 million Floridians.
Healthcare to add more jobs than any other sector in next 10 years
Between 2014 and 2024, the healthcare industry will experience faster employment growth and add more jobs than any other sector. Healthcare and social assistance is expected to increase employment from 12 percent in 2014 to 13.6 percent in 2024.
HCA's EHR shutdown over the weekend
Over the weekend, Hospital Corporation of American encountered an EHR outage with the majority of the outages affecting HCA's Florida facilities. The outage also affected areas of the East Coast. HCA commented the outage was related to a hardware storage issue.
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