Author: Patsy Newitt

Alika Lafontaine, MD, an anesthesiologist in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada, was inducted as the Canadian Medical Association's first Indigenous president, Everything GP reported Aug. 26. 

A LaVale, Md.-based anesthesiologist and pain management practice will pay $980,000 to resolve allegations they submitted false claims for medically unnecessary urine tests, Cumberland Times-News reported Aug. 27. 

Giant companies like Amazon, CVS Health, Walgreens and Walmart are all looking to primary care and physicians amid an increasingly consolidating industry. 

Rhode Island is the state with the highest annual mean wage for physician assistants, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' occupational employment statistics survey released March 31.

St. Louis-based physician Abdul Naushad, MD, has been sentenced to prison for injecting patients with cheaper osteoarthritis treatments that had not been approved by the FDA, local CBS affiliate KMOV4 reported Aug. 25. 

A Florida circuit court has cleared a Sarasota, Fla.-based physician assistant of liability in a medical malpractice trial over the death of a patient, Courtroom View Network reported Aug. 25. 

The ASC industry, like the rest of the healthcare industry, is increasingly consolidating amid rising operating costs. 

Here are five physician practice and ASC closures in the last year:

A federal trial is underway for physician Chad Hall, DO, who is charged with illegally dealing drugs out of a fake clinic, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Aug. 24. 

Connecticut is the state with the highest annual mean wage for certified nurse anesthetists, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' occupational employment statistics survey released March 31.