Patsy Newitt

CMS' 2023 Medicare fee schedule will affect chronic pain practices and some anesthesia and critical care providers, Tony Mira, CEO of Anesthesia Business Consultants, wrote in a Dec. 6 blog post.  

Dallas-based United Surgical Partners International, Brentwood, Tenn.-based Surgery Partners and Deerfield, Ill.-based SCA Health are three of the biggest ASC chains in the country. 

Optum, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group and parent company of ASC chain SCA Health, made six huge deals this year totaling more than $8 billion, focusing on physician groups and value-based care. 

Greenwich, Conn.-based psychologist Michael Lonski, PhD, admitted that he billed insurers for services he knew were not rendered, the Justice Department said Dec. 13. 

Case numbers have long recovered since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but ASC leaders are still struggling with supply costs as they compete for contracts with the deep pockets of hospitals and health systems. 

Hospitals and health systems, like ASCs, are being affected by rising labor and supply costs while reimbursements remain low. 

Eleven percent of physicians would weed out patients with many comorbid conditions under a capitated plan, according to Medscape's 2022 "Right or Wrong in Medicine" report published Dec. 7. 

Former CEO and owner of Sarasota (Fla.) Pain Associates Steven Chun, MD, has been sentenced to three years and six months in prison for his role in a $4.5 million fentanyl kickback scheme, the Justice Department said Dec. 7. 

Here are eight ASC chains to know going into 2023:

According to physicians and APRNs surveyed by Medscape, patients have mixed opinions on physician assistants and nurse practitioners working independently.