ASC News

ASCs are becoming increasingly popular with hospitals and health systems as more than 6 in 10 plan to increase their investments in ASCs, according to a national survey by Avanza Healthcare Strategies.

Three ASCs recently achieved milestones in robotic surgery, three new ASCs with robotics were built or announced, and one introduced a new robotic surgery line.

With hospitals bracing themselves for more monkeypox cases, ASCs should also be prepared for the infectious disease to surge. 

Newtown Square, Pa.-based physician Charles Garo Avetian, MD, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison for assisting in distributing controlled substances and submitting false income tax returns, DelCo Times reported Aug. 10. 

Middletown, N.Y.-based Garnet Health is scaling back on several outpatient services because of low patient volumes, increasing costs and supply shortages, News 12 Westchester reported Aug. 11.

U.S. inflation is currently at 9.1 percent, a 21-year high, and impending Medicare reimbursement cuts along with increasing overhead costs and staff wages are decreasing the already fine margins under which many ASCs and physician-owned practices operate. 

Cardiology is the highest-paying U.S. physician specialty, according to a Aug. 8 report from Forbes. 

The St. Cloud (Minn.) Surgical Center celebrated its 50th anniversary Aug. 10, KNSI Radio reported Aug. 11.

Ronald Ilg, a former neonatal physician in Spokane, Wash., on Aug. 10 pleaded guilty to hiring a hit man on the dark web to assault one woman and kidnap and extort another, KXLY.com reported.

In June, Florida Springs Surgery Center in Spring Hill reported to HHS that the personal data of 2,203 patients was leaked in a cyberattack between March 25 and June 2.