CMS’ 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule raised the conversion factor to $33.57 for qualifying participants, a 3.77% increase. Buried in the same rule is a 2.5% efficiency adjustment to the work RVU values on roughly 7,700 non-time-based CPT codes, covering…
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Six physicians who built billion-dollar companies are seeing their personal fortunes climb, according to Forbes’ billionaire rankings. Thomas Frist Jr., MD — a former U.S. Air Force flight surgeon who co-founded HCA Healthcare with his father, Thomas Frist Sr., MD,…
Brentwood, Tenn.-based Surgery Partners has completed the sale of its ownership interests in its Idaho Falls, Idaho, facilities to Intermountain Health for $797 million in gross proceeds, according to a Sept. 17 news release. The deal includes Mountain View Hospital…
Ascension has closed its acquisition of Amsurg, an ASC development and management company, expanding the health system’s ambulatory platform to more than 312 ASCs across 36 states, according to a Sept. 16 news release covering fiscal year 2026 results. The…
Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare is seeing softer elective surgery volumes as patients lose coverage through the health insurance exchanges, with broader affordability pressures potentially contributing to the slowdown, CFO Mike Marks said Sept. 15 at the Jefferies Healthcare Services and…
San Tan Valley, Ariz.-based Rita Ntusa Anagho has been sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for orchestrating a $69 million Medicaid fraud scheme through her addiction treatment clinic, according to a Sept. 17 news release from the Department of…
Anesthesia coverage is turning into the most expensive line item on many ASCs’ books, and the real cost rarely shows up in the contract’s headline number. The share of ASCs paying anesthesia stipends jumped from 28% in 2024 to 44%…
Physician compensation continues to climb faster than productivity, according to a new report from consulting firm SullivanCotter. The firm’s “2026 Physician Compensation and Productivity Survey,” found that median total cash compensation rose year over year across all major specialties even…
Health plans are getting squeezed from several directions at once. Administrative costs press against the medical loss ratio ceiling, new prior authorization rules set binding turnaround times and require public denial reporting, and members and providers expect answers in minutes.…
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PHI Air Medical, an air ambulance company, suspended operations at the Red Bluff Air Medical Base at Red Bluff Airport in California amid reimbursement tensions with insurers. A Sept. 14 PHI news release shared with Becker’s specifically blamed Elevance Health,…