Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1273484
25 PRACTICE MANAGEMENT New Mexico orthopedic practice closes By Eric Oliver L as Cruces (N.M.) Orthopaedic Associates shut down permanently May 11 as a result of "unforeseen circumstances" potentially tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, the practice announced May 4. What you should know: 1. The practice had four orthopedic clinicians. All four continue to provide care in the Las Cruces community. 2. The practice made temporary accommodations for patients in need of follow-up care. The release said "more permanent accommodations" would be finalized in the future. 3. The practice turned over its medical records to American Document Services. Patients can get copies of the records by contacting the company. 4. Michael McGuire, MD, began seeing patients at MountainView Medical Group Orthopedics and Musculoskeletal Care effective May 1; Paul Saiz, MD, and Nicholas Scarcella, MD, began providing care at the temporary offices of 3 Crosses Ortho- pedic Spine; and Yvonne Muojieje, DPM, sees pa- tients at the Arteries and Veins clinic. n Investor pays $49M for Arizona spine, orthopedic hospital property By Angie Steweart P hoenix-based Oasis Medical Center — the property housing Oasis Hospital — was re- cently acquired by Flagler Investment Hold- ings, a full-service medical real estate company. Flagler acquired the 94,000-square-foot property for $49 million. The surgical hospital is minutes from downtown and the Phoenix Sky Harbor Inter- national Airport. With 64 beds and eight operating rooms, Oasis Hospital is devoted to orthopedics and spine sur- geries. n 28.4M elective surgeries could be canceled in 2020 — orthopedic procedures hit hardest By Alan Condon A recent study published in the British Journal of Surgery has projected that the COVID-19 pandemic will cancel or postpone more than 28.4 million elective surgeries world- wide in 2020, according to U.S. News & World Report. Orthopedic surgeries will be hit hardest, with 6.3 million proce- dures expected to be affected, according to the study. The study is based on a 12-week period of peak disruption to hos- pital services due to the pandemic. Each additional week of dis- rupted service would cause 2.4 million more cancellations. Researchers analyzed elective surgery information from surgeons at 359 hospitals in 71 countries and used the data to estimate the pandemic's global effect. n Supreme Court rejects UPMC appeal in whistleblower case involving 13 neurosurgeons By Alan Condon T he U.S. Supreme Court on May 1 refused to hear an appeal by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in a whis- tleblower lawsuit against the health system and 13 neuro- surgeons, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. The case can now move to the discovery phase in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The lawsuit alleged that "unnecessary and overly complex surger- ies" were performed to boost physician salaries and hospital reve- nue, beginning in 2006. In 2012, three former UPMC employees — neurosurgeons J. Wil- liam Bookwalter, MD, and Robert Sclabassi, MD, and operating room technician Anna Mitina — claimed the surgeries were per- formed due to UPMC's physician compensation deal, which pro- vided bonuses to those performing the procedures. The False Claims Act and the Ethics in Patient Referrals Act, or the Stark Law, prohibited UPMC's compensation arrangement, the plaintiffs alleged. Under the legislation, hospitals cannot bill Medicare for some services when they have financial ties to the physician involved. The lawsuit was dismissed twice by a U.S. district judge before be- ing reinstated by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in 2019. n