Author: Francesca Mathewes

St. Cloud, Minn.-based CentraCare received plat approval to complete an ongoing expansion project, KNSI News reported Sept. 24. 

Lehigh Valley (Pa.) Health Network agreed to pay $65 million in a proposed settlement of a class action lawsuit affecting 134,000 patients and employees, the Information Security Media Group reported Sept. 23. 

The ASC industry is facing new forces in consolidation: large health systems and independent ASC groups with non-traditional business models.

A July 2023 study by RAND found that most physicians working in vertically integrated hospitals or health systems were 65% less likely to use ASCs for procedures, compared to physicians who were never a part of a vertically integrated system. 

Here are give studies and reports shaping the anesthesia market and workforce right now:

Alex Azar and Kathleen Sebelius, who served as secretaries for the Department of Health and Human Services under former presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama, respectively, advocated for a bipartisan adoption of site-neutral healthcare payments in an opinion article published…

A study published in April in The American Journal of Managed Care  found that procedures performed in the HOPD setting cost significantly more than those performed in ASCs, despite no evidence of better quality of care. 

In July, Bernard Lim, MD, performed the first atrial fibrillation ablation procedure ever completed at Decatur (Ill.) Memorial Hospital, NowDecatur.com reported Sept. 12. 

Here are three recent updates on CVS Health, as reported by Becker's:

Gastroenterology, while still largely independent, has seen an overall increase in consolidation with the rise of supergroups like Dallas-based GI Alliance.