Hospitals are rich and poised to get richer while independent physicians and groups continue to take it on the chin, facing ever more onerous pressures to consolidate under the headship of large hospitals, health systems or for-profit practice management companies.

The new guidance, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, covers a variety of topics, including thoracic aortic disease, peripheral artery disease, shared decision-making and cardiac imaging.

The American College of Radiology is offering an initial appraisal of the rates CMS will pay next year for outpatient radiology and radiation oncology services through the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System.

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) were handed a big win in the 2023 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) with several changes to the shared savings program that will likely encourage participation.

CMS has finalized the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) for 2023, and its reimbursement reductions for radiology are less harsh than those proposed preliminarily in July.

The American College of Cardiology and Heart Rhythm Society issued a joint statement soon after CMS published its final rule for the 2023 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. The groups warned that the final rule could threaten patient access to high-quality care. 

The final rule updated the OPPS payment rate by 3.8% for calendar year 2023, which CMS based on the 4.1% projected hospital market basket percentage increase and adjusted for 0.3 percentage points for productivity. 

CVS Health will pay $5 billion over the next 10 years, and Walgreens will pay $4.95 billion over the next 15 years.