Author: Patsy Newitt

Physician leaders are frustrated and concerned about CMS' proposal for a 2.8% conversion factor reduction to its physician fee schedule for 2025. 

Hospitals in many markets are closing as they face massive financial challenges, including declining reimbursement rates, shifting market demands and rising practice costs. 

Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic was named the best hospital for gastroenterology and GI surgery in 2024 by U.S. News & World Report.

In June, Walgreens announced plans to reduce its stake in primary care clinic chain VillageMD and to shutter underperforming stores in the next few years. 

Dallas-based Steward Health Care, which filed for bankruptcy May 6, is under criminal investigation by federal prosecutors. 

A Washington, D.C., physician is suing David Stockman, MD, and Saginaw Township-based Michigan Health Clinic, alleging failure to pay $142,000 in wages, M Live reported July 12.

Medicaid patient counts for self-employed and employed physicians were substantially lower than Medicare, according to Medscape's 2024 "Doctors Evaluate Medicare and Medicaid Report 2024," published July 12. 

Radiology, anesthesiology and pathology saw the highest pay jump between 2023 and 2024, according to the American Medical Group Association's 2024 Medical Group Compensation and Productivity Survey. 

As practice costs skyrocket and reimbursements continue to sink, physicians are angered at CMS' proposal to cut physician pay by 2.8%. 

Facing increasing obstacles to access economies of scale, including rising practice costs and decreasing reimbursement, physician groups are increasingly consolidating.