Three physicians in the last week have faced lawsuits surrounding the prescription of controlled substances.

ASCs play a huge role in mitigating the rising cost of healthcare as well as providing a more convenient site of service. 

Massachusetts physicians receive the highest monthly pay, according to data from Ziprecruiter. 

Nearly 30 percent of physicians have experienced mistreatment from patients or visitors, according to research published May 19 in ScienceDaily. 

The state where average nurse pay goes the furthest is Kentucky, according to data from ZipRecruiter and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Living Wage Calculator.

Here are six updates from HHS and CMS from the last two weeks:

The minimum cost of living in many states in the U.S. eats up the majority of the average nurse salary, according to data from ZipRecruiter and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Living Wage Calculator.

More than 108,700 physicians have shifted to employment from 2019 to 2021, with 58,200 physicians joining hospitals and 50,500 moving to other corporate entities, according to an April report from Avalere.

Hospitals and corporate entities continue to snap up independent physician practices — a trend that has seen a significant spike because of the heightened economic challenges brought by the pandemic — but not all patients are happy with the level of care they receive by such corporate structures.

The future is bright for ASCs, but amid rising costs and declining reimbursement, many leaders stress the importance of focused growth plans and other strategies to win in their market. 

Nurses earn less than a quarter of what physicians earn in seven U.S. states, according to data from ZipRecruiter.

The state where average nurse pay goes the furthest is Kentucky, according to data from ZipRecruiter and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Living Wage Calculator.

Manchester, Tenn., physician David Florence, DO, agreed to be permanently barred from prescribing schedule II and most schedule III controlled substances, the Justice Department said May 18.

Oxford, Conn., physician Marc Legris, MD, was hit with a $10,000 fine for using another physician's name and Drug Enforcement Agency registration number to prescribe controlled substances to a relative, Hartford Courant reported May 17.

A physician at Indianapolis-based Indiana University Health Physicians has sued the health system, saying he was demoted and then terminated after objecting to limiting EMR time to 10 minutes, Indiana Business Journal reported May 16. 

It's no secret that orthopedic care is one of many specialties migrating to the outpatient setting, and hospitals and health systems are making several strategic shifts to keep up with this trend.

For many ASC leaders, the biggest obstacle to care is skyrocketing costs driven by supply and labor shortages, as well as a 40-year inflation apex of 8.5 percent.

Here are five ASCs Becker's has reported on since April 28 that have made waves by achieving respective firsts:

Dallas-based United Surgical Partners International, Tenet Healthcare's surgery center business, has helped protect the company from the rising labor costs that continue to eat into the bottom line of many hospitals and health systems across the country.

Las Vegas-based Sunset Ridge Surgery Center surgeon Colby Young, MD, performed the first procedure with the CoNextions TR Tendon Repair System on May 11.