Becker's ASC Review

6 ASC MANAGEMENT Physician pay is increasing in these specialties By Patsy Newitt Twenty-one physician specialties saw pay increases in 2023, according to Medscape's "Physician Compensation Report 2023." Medscape surveyed 10,011 physicians across more than 29 specialties about their income, work hours, job satisfaction and more from Oct. 7, 2022, to Jan. 17, 2023. Here are the 21 specialties that saw pay increases in 2023: • Oncology: 13 percent increase • Gastroenterology: 11 percent • Anesthesiology: 10 percent • Radiology: 10 percent • Critical care: 10 percent • Urology: 10 percent • Psychiatry: 8 percent • Plastic surgery: 7 percent • Pulmonary medicine: 7 percent • Neurology: 4 percent • Diabetes and endocrinology: 4 percent • Internal medicine: 4 percent • ENT: 4 percent • Cardiology: 4 percent • Orthopedics: 3 percent • Pediatrics: 3 percent • Public health and preventive medicine: 3 percent • General surgery: 2 percent • Pathology: 2 percent • Dermatology: 1 percent • Infectious diseases: 1 percent n CMS adds physician owner waiver for Stark law By Patsy Newitt C MS added a Stark law waiver for physician owners of independent free-standing emergency departments that served Medicare patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an article written by three attorneys from the firm McDermott, Will & Emery and published in Lexology on June 2. The waiver applies retroactively and is the first time CMS has modified its blanket Stark law waivers since 2020, according to the report. Independent, freestanding emergency departments will now receive similar protections to ASCs, which were also able to convert to hospitals during the pandemic. The waiver applies to referrals by a physician owner of a hospital that was an independent, freestanding emergency department that meets the following criteria: 1. On March 1, 2020, the department was licensed as an IFED. 2. The hospital enrolled in Medicare as a hospital during the public health emergency. 3. The hospital did not increase the aggregate percentage of physician ownership. 4. The hospital meets Medicare participation conditions. 5. The hospital's Medicare enrollment is consistent with the COVID-19 pandemic plan of its state. n ASC operator Envision files for bankruptcy By Claire Wallace A SC operator and physician services company Envision announced plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to a May 10 report from The Wall Street Journal. Envision has been battling high labor costs and was recently in a dispute with UnitedHealthcare in which the insurer alleged Envision was billing routine visits as unnecessarily complex care. Envision has about $7 billion of debt outstanding and has been exploring bankruptcy. It missed a March 31 quarterly reporting deadline and skipped an April interest payment. Financial experts expect an uptick in bankruptcies in 2023, according to the report. n

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