Hospitals and health systems faced big Stark law penalties in 2023.

NewYork-Presbyterian/Brooklyn Medical Methodist Hospital agreed to pay $17.3 million to resolve allegations that it paid unlawful kickbacks to physicians. 

A father and son have been sentenced to 65 months and 12 months, respectively, for fraudulently receiving $21 million in Medicare payments. 

The White House released its proposed $7.3 trillion budget for fiscal year 2025, which included several healthcare investments.

Medicare's pay for physicians decreased 3.4% in 2024 after dropping 2% in 2023, and while a new spending package offers some relief, physicians say it's not enough.

A physician in Philadelphia will pay $95,000 to resolve allegations he ordered medically unnecessary genetic testing for Medicare beneficiaries. 

The Retinal Ambulatory Surgery Center of New York in New York City will expand its facility with the addition of two new operating rooms.

U.S.-based employers cut 84,638 jobs in February — 3,805 of which were in the healthcare industry, according to a March 7 report from job market research firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. 

Healthcare organizations continue to grapple with operational and staffing challenges, which can make it difficult to operate efficiently.

Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs), due to their size constraints, typically have limited operating rooms and resources. Traditional navigation systems for spine surgery require preoperative CT scans, incurring both time and cost burdens for patients and ASCs.

Surgeons have the second-most stressful job of any profession in the U.S., according to research from Dolman Law Group that looked at median salary, average work hours as well as unemployment rate and percentage of people changing jobs after the first two years. 

Workers in Massachusetts have the best work-life balance of any state, according to a study from AI productivity platform Plus Docs based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Like ASCs, hospitals and practices are continuing to face financial hardships, and some are having to close their doors. 

A nurse at Crown Point (Ind.) Surgical Suites outpatient surgery center has been charged with stealing hundreds of narcotics from the facility between June and December, according to a March 10 report from the NWI Times. 

A physician resident is suing the health system that owns his former employer, Detroit Medical Center, alleging he was fired in retaliation for notifying his supervisor of the mistreatment of a patient who became quadriplegic, the Detroit Metro Times reported March 8. 

Walgreens' VillageMD, operator of 680 clinics majority-owned by Walgreens Boots Alliance, including 200 clinics co-located with Walgreens and 170 third-party clinics at its stores, recently announced plans to exit the Illinois, Indiana and Florida markets by the end of the year.

Charges against a physician in Blacksburg, Va., were dismissed after he completed a court-run drug treatment program, The Roanoke Times reported March 8.

The last several years have been tumultuous for small businesses and independent providers struggling to stay afloat amid rising inflation costs, staffing shortages and a global pandemic. 

KLAS Research ranked R1 as the best ambulatory RCM service in its 2024 Best in KLAS Software and Services awards.

The U.S. unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 7.6% in February, reaching a two-year high, according to a March 8 report from Forbes.