Author: Alan Condon

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…

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.

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.

Surgery Center of Viera in Melbourne, Fla., on May 2 filed a lawsuit against UnitedHealthcare for alleged repricing and underpayment of a spine surgery performed in 2019.

Baptist Health has reached the structural completion of its five-story outpatient campus in Louisville, Ky., CBS affiliate WLKY reported May 2.

Jefferson City (Mo.) Medical Group has performed more than 600 procedures at its $17 million ASC that opened April 5, according to CBS affiliate KRCG.

Advanced Surgery Center in Fort Lee, N.J., has filed a lawsuit against UnitedHealthcare for allegedly failing to pay for hernia-related procedures.

For the first time in Medscape's 11 years of physician compensation reports, all physician specialties reported an increase in pay, with otolaryngologists and gastroenterologists seeing the largest pay increases by percentage.

CMS and commercial payers continue to push procedures to ASCs, where care can be provided at a lower cost, and private equity investment in surgery centers is increasing to capitalize on this evolving dynamic.