1. Federal Court Rules Physician Suit Against Surgery Center for Enforcing Safe Harbor One-Third Tests A Decision for State Court. 

Note: We thank Dr. Tom Pliura, a lawyer and founder of zChart, for sending us the opinion.

2. Missouri Podiatrist Sentenced for Medicare Fraud.

3. Two Texas Physicians Charged With Medicare Fraud.

4. Insight Sought: We are seeking your insight and best practices for these reader questions:

- Do you notify patients of your grievance policy in advance of their surgery?
- What are your billing protocols for "bring-backs" -- infection after procedure, bleeding after a procedure, failed (e.g. loss of fixation) procedure, etc.?
 
Send your thoughts about these questions to Scott Becker (sbecker@mcguirewoods.com) or reply to the E-weekly. A few select answers to these questions will be published early next week.

5. Don't Miss Dr. John Fitz of Surgery Center of Farmington Discuss "Key Thoughts on Improving the Profits of Ophthalmology in ASCs" at the 16th Annual Improving Profitability, and Business and Legal Issues for ASCs, from Oct. 8-10 in Chicago. Learn more.

7. Eight Florida Residents Indicted in Medicare Fraud Scheme.

9. Orion Medical Announces New Centers, Corporate Office.

10. U.S. House Introduces First Draft Healthcare Reform Legislation; Seeks to Restrict Physician-Hospital Ownership.

If you'd like more information about or an introduction to any of these companies, please e-mail Scott Becker.

National Surgical Care. National Surgical Care, a nationwide owner and operator of ambulatory surgical centers, focuses on addressing the needs and problems confronting surgery centers across the country. Learn more about NSC.

TransMotion Medical. TransMotion Medical designs, manufactures and distributes a line of specialty medical procedure chairs including the TMM3 Video Fluoroscopy Chair, TMM4 Multi-Purpose Treatment Chair and TMM5 Surgical Stretcher Chair. Learn more about TransMotion Medical.

Alternate Medical Billing Systems. Alternate Medical Billing Systems provides a number of medical billing services including claim filing, billing statements, coding, payment posting, denials/rejections analysis and much more. Learn more about Alternate Medical Billing Systems.

ASCOA. Since 1984, ASCOA's founders have helped physician-owners start and operate successful facilities; ASCOA currently owns and manages 34 facilities across the country with 14 others in development. Learn more about ASCOA.

Anesthesia Healthcare Partners. AHP provides ASCs, hospitals, or office-based practice with the choice of all-inclusive anesthesia service solutions or any combination of those distinct anesthesia service components, which include anesthesia billing, recruitment and practice management. Learn more about AHP.

ProVation Medical. ProVation Medical has created ProVation EHR, an electronic health record designed for busy, cost-conscious ASCs. Learn more about ProVation Medical.

MEDtegrity. The MEDtegrity Medical Laundry Network is a $500 million commercial laundry network and of one of the largest and most successful independent and family-owned laundries in the United States. Learn more about MEDtegrity.

Blue Chip Surgical Center Partners. Founded by ASC veteran Jeff Leland, Blue Chip holds an equity stake in its projects and also serves as a managing partner, with several highly profitable, physician-led centers in operation around the country and a number of projects in the works. Learn more about Blue Chip.

Surgical Notes. Surgical Notes is a nationwide provider of medical transcription, coding and other related value-added information technology services for ASCs. Read more about Surgical Notes.

Amerinet. As a leading national group purchasing organization, Amerinet strategically partners with healthcare providers to reduce costs and improve quality through its Total Spend Management solutions and operational performance improvement programs, tools and services. Learn more about Amerinet.