ASC News

Lone Tree, Colo.-based Sky Ridge Medical Center is opening the state's first fully robotics-dedicated surgery center.

Simon Lee, MD, performed foot surgery on Chicago Fire MLS player Wyatt Omsberg at Chicago-based Rush Oak Brook Surgery Center, the team said June 24.

Nurses and medical assistants are among the most difficult positions to recruit in today's challenging healthcare labor market, which has pushed many ASCs and medical practices to increase wages and strengthen compensation packages and benefits to address staff shortages.

Hourly wages and salaries typically are the most important factors in healthcare employees' workplace decisions, with many ASCs and medical groups bolstering their compensation packages to attract new staff in a challenging labor market. 

Nurses are among the most difficult staff members for ASCs and medical practices to recruit because of a nationwide shortage attributed to increased demand due to an aging population and burnout reaching new levels during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ASCs, hospitals and health systems continue to be challenged with staff shortages as the availability of high-quality clinical and administrative workers fluctuates through labor market shifts and new waves of COVID-19 variants.

Thirty-one percent of physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians are paying off their student loans, according to Medscape's "Physician Wealth & Debt Report 2022."

Dallas-based United Surgical International Partners is strengthening its position as the leading ASC operator in the U.S., with its latest partnership adding 22 ASCs and more than 140 physicians to its network.

The Surgery Center of Pottsville (Pa.) is closing on June 28 after 17 years in operation.

Prior authorization is a big part of private practice physicians' jobs, but it's among the least popular parts of healthcare for providers of all kinds. The good news: There are signs that reform is gaining momentum.