Here are seven updates:
SCA names Kenneth Goulet to board of directors
Kenneth R. Goulet is joining Surgical Care Affiliates' board of directors, starting June 1, 2016. Prior to joining SCA, Mr. Goulet held leadership roles with Anthem, including executive vice president and president of Anthem's commercial and specialty business.
Foundation HealthCare acquires Ninety Nine Healthcare Management
Foundation HealthCare acquired majority interest in Ninety Nine Healthcare Management, a physician practice management company. Foundation HealthCare projects the acquisition to be accretive to the company's earnings in the first 12 months after closing.
CMS posts individual physician payments for 2014
More than 986,000 clinicians were included in the data, receiving around $91 billion in Medicare payments in 2014. In 2013, CMS included 950,000 clinicians in the data-dump, receiving around $90 billion.
Major insurance mergers spend $400M+ on legal & banking services
Anthem has spent nearly $139 million after taxes on financial consulting, legal fees and bridge-loan financing costs. Similarly, Aetna spent at least $119 million after taxes to prepare for its Humana purchase. Cigna paid lawyers and bankers $93 million and Humana paid lawyers and bankers $52 million, both after taxes. Since the deals were announced last summer, the two insurers have paid nearly $403 million in total in acquisition-related costs.
MFC elects 7 board of director members
At a board meeting, Medical Facilities Corp. appointed independent director Marilynne Day-Linton as the board of directors' chair. Other elected directors include:
• David R. Bellaire
• Stephen Dineley
• Irving R. Gerstein
• Dale Lawr
• Jeffrey Lozon
• John T. Perri
Federal judge rules parts of ACA are 'illegal'
U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer ruled President Obama went above his authority by unilaterally funding an ACA provision that gave billions of dollars of subsidies to health insurance companies. Judge Collyer put her rule on hold pending the Obama administration's appeal.
Physicians accept responsibility for Joan Rivers' death
Five physicians from New York-based Yorkville Endoscopy agreed to pay a "substantial" amount and accepted responsibility for the death of comedian Joan Rivers to settle a malpractice lawsuit brought by her family. The suit alleged the physicians, in addition to being star-struck and eager to please, made a series of errors that led to Ms. Rivers' death.
More healthacre news:
5 key thoughts on new practice models for independent physicians — Which will stick?
4 GI physicians in the news — May 13, 2016
Physicians accept blame for Joan Rivers' death: 8 key notes on the Yorkville Endoscopy settlement