Patsy Newitt

Emergency room physician David Meranda, MD, who worked at an Akron, Ohio-based hospital, was sentenced to two years in prison for sexually assaulting a co-worker, the Akron Beacon Journal reported June 27. 

A former nurse who stole medical-grade fentanyl and replaced it with saline while working at Surgery Center at Jensen Beach (Fla.) was sentenced to four years in prison, TCPalm reported June 27.

The average hourly pay for nurses in the U.S. is $42.80 for registered nurses, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' occupational employment statistics survey's most recent data. 

Twenty-one physician specialties saw pay increases in 2023, according to Medscape's "Physician Compensation Report 2023."

Here are six major physician group acquisitions to know:

Private equity firms have long used ASCs as investment vehicles, and after courting key ASC specialties like gastroenterology, orthopedics and ophthalmology, they could be looking to cardiology as a new area of growth. 

Former Maine state medical board administrator Brenda Gowesky, MD, alleges in a lawsuit that a whistleblower complaint she made against her former employer caused her to be fired from the agency, Medscape reported June 26. 

Physician-owned hospitals offer commercial and cash prices that are about one-third lower than non-physician-owned hospitals, according to a study published June 23 in JAMA Network Open.

The Florida surgeon general has signed an emergency suspension order for Manuel Barbeito, MD, a Miami-based physician who has been in prison for overprescribing since September, the Miami Herald reported June 25. 

Wilmington, N.C.-based family medicine physician Mark Armitage, MD, agreed to pay $170,000 to resolve allegations he prescribed opioids and other drugs outside the usual course of professional practice.