According to a study published in Health Affairs, if all physician practices performed at the level of "robust practices," they would save an estimated $14.9 billion on fee-for-service beneficiaries annually.

Physicians are clinging to fee-for-service payment to avoid the proverbial "race to the bottom" of bundled payments, which often cut pay rates.

Medicare payments to ASCs dropped 6.4 percent between 2019 and 2020, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission's March report to Congress. 

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission recommended Medicare continue its physician fee payment freeze despite ongoing financial pressure from the pandemic.

In its March report to Congress, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission recommended cutting the 2023 Medicare conversion factor for ASCs and to require ASCs to report cost data. 

Southern ASCs earn the most revenue in the country, according to VMG Health's "Multi-Specialty ASC Benchmarking Study" for 2022.

The U.S. attorney's office asked a federal judge not to dismiss a whistleblower lawsuit against the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and one of its top surgeons, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported March 10.

Twelve Michigan- and Ohio-based physicians were sentenced March 9 to prison for their roles in a scheme to perform and bill for unnecessary procedures in exchange for opioid prescriptions.

Two major credit card companies plan to increase merchant fees, according to The Wall Street Journal.

A gastroenterologist in Central Islip, N.Y., pleaded guilty March 7 to billing Medicare for millions of dollars for medical procedures that weren't performed, according to the Justice Department.

The Surgery Center of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City is leading the charge in ASC price transparency with its all-cash model, according to a March 4 D Magazine report. 

Commercial payers account for 55 percent of total collections at ASCs, according to VMG Health's "Multi-Specialty ASC Benchmarking Study" for 2022.

Commercial payers account for an average of 44 percent of total cases in ASCs, according to VMG Health's "Multi-Specialty ASC Benchmarking Study" for 2022.

CMS has sent about 342 warning notices to hospitals found noncompliant with price transparency regulations since Jan. 1, 2021, when the rule went into effect. 

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas customers no longer have in-network access to physicians and facilities of Houston-based health system Memorial Hermann, The Examiner reported March 3.

Seventy-nine percent of medical groups say that payer prior authorization requirements increased in the last year, according to a poll conducted by Medical Group Management Association March 1.

Variations of colonoscopies make up three of the 10 most common procedures performed at an ASC, according to data company Definitive Healthcare.

Cigna, one of the country's largest payers, has named two executives in the last month. 

Health insurer chief executives earn millions of dollars each year while their companies narrow networks and lower pay rates for physicians and ASCs.

UnitedHealth Group has decided to stop mailing prior authorization and clinical decisions to providers on paper.