Rural ASCs and independent physician practices are navigating a split picture in 2026. New federal dollars, a federal shortage designation push and emerging payment reform are creating fresh opportunities for surgical access outside hospital walls. At the same time, clinic…
ASC News
Some surgical assistants are using arbitration provisions in federal billing law to collect far more than the surgeons they assist, according to The New York Times. Surgical assistants are typically paid a standard fee equal to about 16% of a…
Virginia and Tennessee will both impose new restrictions on noncompete agreements starting July 1, 2026, adding to a growing wave of state-level limits on the employment clauses that affect tens of thousands of healthcare workers. According to a June 22…
DISC Surgery Center has added 17 physician partners to its recently opened ASC in West Palm Beach, Fla. The physicians specialize in spine surgery, orthopedic surgery, total joint replacement and vascular surgery, according to a June 29 news release. The…
Fort Pierce, Fla.-based Nova Ortho and Spine added Southeastern Surgery Center in Tallahassee, Fla. to its network of surgical facilities, bringing its total to 12 locations. Cardiff Lexington, a healthcare holdings company, announced the addition in a June 29 news…
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St. Cloud, Minn.-based CentraCare will open a $194 million expansion at its Plaza campus June 29, adding more than 225,000 square feet of clinical space, according to a June 9 West Central Tribune report. The expansion adds space for orthopedics,…
Downers Grove, Ill.-based Duly Health and Care has installed the da Vinci 5 surgical robot at its Lombard (Ill.) Surgery Center, making it the first ASC in Illinois and among five nationally to offer the technology. The robotic system will…
A bipartisan group of senators led by Senator Brian Schatz, a Democrat from Hawaii, introduced the Ensuring Access to General Surgery Act of 2026, legislation that would create the first formal federal shortage designation for general surgeons and direct the…
St. Louis-based Ascension has become the third-largest ASC operator after its $3.9 billion acquisition of AmSurg expanded its footprint to more than 300 surgery centers. The health system now trails only Tenet Healthcare’s USPI, which operates more than 535 ASCs…
Noncompete agreements, certificate-of-need laws and tax incentives are some of the most powerful policy levers shaping the way that independent physicians practice. Marcelo Hochman, MD, a Charleston-based independent physician and former president of the Independent Doctors of South Carolina, has…