Here are seven updates:
1. Aetna faces counterclaims by North Cypress (Texas) Medical Center in its answer to a $120 million billing fraud and kickback lawsuit brought against the hospital earlier this year. The hospital denied the allegations and claims Aetna's million-dollar lawsuit is part of a larger scheme to "sue out-of-network providers throughout the nation to coerce them into financially burdensome in-network contracts with Aetna."
2. Legislation that would have enabled 72-hour stays at ASCs in Florida died in the state senate. There is a chance the legislation could be revived and Rep. Jason Brodeur, chairman of the House Health and Human Services Committee, plans to propose the 72-hour stay measure again.
3. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission released guidelines on business antitrust laws that forbid unfair competition. Before this statement, The FTC never formally defined what it meant for a business to compete unfairly.
4. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 90 percent of Americans have health insurance with approximately 16 million more Americans insured in 2015 than 2013.
5. Recent studies found the Affordable Care Act does not reduce work time for employees. This may be due to competition for qualified employees being greater than the cost of health benefits.
6. Dispatch Health, a mobile healthcare delivery start-up for acute care patients based in Denver, raised $3.6 million in seed funding for expansion of its services.
7. A recent study examined the association between sex and medico-legal action. The study found male physicians had 2.5 times the odds of medico-legal action compared to female physicians.
More on surgery centers:
AMN Healthcare is nation's largest healthcare staffing company: 4 notes
ASC acquisitions from the perspective of hospitals
Mobile healthcare delivery start-up raises $3.6M: 6 notes