Author: Francesca Mathewes

Physicians faced numerous challenges in 2024, from increased legal pitfalls in some areas of care to deteriorating physician autonomy. 

Congress has signed a downsized funding bill to avoid a government shutdown, which did not include a bipartisan package that would have offset CMS' 2.85% cut to physician payments in 2025. 

2024 has become a more legally treacherous year for physicians and it's affecting the way they practice medicine. 

President Joe Biden recently commuted the prison sentence of Shelinder Aggarwal, who was allegedly the most prolific Medicare prescriber of opioids in the U.S., WAFF reported Dec. 17. 

Members of the Committee of Interns and Residents at George Washington University Hospital in Washington have reached a tentative labor deal, averting a strike. 

Physician autonomy is a central concern for physicians and physician leaders heading into 2025, as just 44% of physicians owned their own practice in 2022, compared with 76% in the early 1980s, according to the American Medical Association. 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against a physician in New York for prescribing abortion medication to a Texas resident through telemedicine services. 

The Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston has broken ground on a new medical school building, Live 5 News reported Dec. 13. 

Here are three union updates since Nov. 22, as reported by Becker's:

Massachusetts' Physician Pathway Act will soon allow foreign-trained physicians to practice medicine in the state to address the ongoing physician shortage, Metro West Daily News reported Dec. 11.