Here are five updates on Cigna Healthcare in September, as reported by Becker's:

U.S. Healthworks, a chain of occupational and urgent care clinics, has agreed to pay $7.7 million to settle allegations it knowingly withheld millions of dollars in unclaimed property from the state of California.

According to the Physician Foundation's annual "Survey of America's Current and Future Physicians," 6 in 10 physicians and residents reported experiencing burnout, and 50% of respondents said healthcare consolidation is having a negative impact on their job satisfaction. 

A private ASC in Nacogdoches, Texas, closed its doors permanently  in May, citing financial pressures, according to a May 10 report from The Daily Sentinel.

The clinic and home of a physician in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., has been raided for an alleged pill mill, WDIV reported Sept. 24. 

A former billing manager for AmSurg-affiliated Affiliated Endoscopy Services of Clifton (N.J.) has filed a lawsuit against the ASC alleging employment discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, according to court documents obtained by Becker's. 

A former office manager and bookkeeper for a practice in Pawtucket, R.I., has been sentenced to more than two years in prison for misappropriating nearly $570,000 in medical funds and $11,000 in state benefits. 

ASCs leaders and physicians are at a pressure point between rising inflation, increased demand for healthcare services and declining reimbursements from Medicare and private payers. 

Nearly 99% of Medicare Advantage patients are required to obtain prior authorization for certain services. 

A jury has determined that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana shortchanged a New Orleans-based surgical center by more than $400 million, according to a Sept. 24 report from NOLA.com. 

Thirty-seven percent of physicians say private payers had "quite a bit" or "a great deal" of influence over treatment decisions, according to Medscape's 2024 "Physician-Private Payer Relationship Report Report." 

A large majority of physicians, 74%, frown upon nurses with clinical PhDs calling themselves "doctor" according to Medscape's 2024 "Hot Topics in the Medical Profession Report," published Sept. 18. 

Lehigh Valley (Pa.) Health Network agreed to pay $65 million in a proposed settlement of a class action lawsuit affecting 134,000 patients and employees, the Information Security Media Group reported Sept. 23. 

Husband and wife John Johnson, MD, and Paula Johnson, MD, of Hollidaysburg, Pa., were sentenced for conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and healthcare fraud conspiracy.

Physicians in the mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. are the unhappiest with private-payer reimbursement rates, according to Medscape's 2024 "Physician-Private Payer Relationship Report," published Sept. 20. 

Healthcare jobs are the most likely to include signing bonuses among all job posts on Indeed.com, according to The Wall Street Journal, and surgery centers are still using them to attract talent.

Thirty six percent of physicians above the age of 46 experienced a pay cut in the last year, according to a recent Physicians Foundation survey. 

Gaithersburg, Md.-based All Day Medical Care Clinic has settled allegations from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that the system refused to provide ADA accommodations for a new employee, according to a Sept. 19 report from HR Dive.

Alex Azar and Kathleen Sebelius, who served as secretaries for the Department of Health and Human Services under former presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama, respectively, advocated for a bipartisan adoption of site-neutral healthcare payments in an opinion article published in Stat in April. 

A medical provider in Falls Church, Va., is relocating to a medical office building nearly five times the size of its existing facility, according to a Sept. 18 report from ARL Now.