Life is hectic, we know, so here’s a recap of the Healthcare Weekly Hot Topics you can’t afford to miss:
- Ascension’s technology department to lay off 651 employees Beckers Hospital Review Ascension Technologies, the IT subsidiary of St. Louis-based Ascension, plans to lay off an estimated 651 remote workers this year, according to an April 30 St. Louis Post-Dispatch report.
- Neurosurgeon and Two Affiliated Companies Agree to Pay 4.4 Million to Settle Healthcare Fraud Allegations Justice.gov Neurosurgeon Wilson Asfora, M.D. of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and two medical device distributorships that he owns, Medical Designs LLC and Sicage LLC, have agreed to pay $4.4 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations relating to illegal payments to Asfora to induce the use of certain medical devices, in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute, as well as claims for medically unnecessary surgeries.
- HHS will pay for COVID-19 vaccine administration fees not covered by insurers HHS HHS launched a program May 3 in which the Health Resources and Services Administration is covering costs of administering COVID-19 vaccines to patients whose health plans don’t cover vaccination fees or cover them with patient cost-sharing.
- Physicians, Dentists Push for Insurers to Cover Increased Cost of PPE Kaiser Health News Treating patients has become more expensive during the pandemic, and doctors and dentists don’t want to be on the hook for all the new costs.
- Washington State Law to Boost Hospital Transparency AP News State hospitals in Washington state must now report additional financial and patient demographic information to the state under a new law intended to increase transparency.
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