Two House lawmakers have introduced a bill that would establish an "essential health system" designation that would create more opportunities for safety net hospitals to receive federal funding. 

Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora ceased performing certain gender-affirming surgeries for patients 18 and older in July. Now, seven months later, a patient is suing the hospital over their canceled surgery, The Colorado Sun reported Feb. 14.

NYC Health + Hospitals is one of three plaintiffs in a lawsuit against TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube, alleging they have created a youth mental health crisis and seeking to recover related public health costs.

Quest Diagnostics has reached a settlement after several California district attorneys filed a complaint against the diagnostics company for improper disposal of hazardous and medical waste and not properly protecting health information at its facilities statewide.

Indiana Rep. Larry Bucshon, MD, told the American Hospital Association that Medicare reimbursement cuts could be at least partially reversed in Congress' next spending package, Roll Call reported Feb. 13. 

The Department of Justice has filed a complaint under the False Claims Act against Rick Nassenstein, former CFO, president and co-owner of Cardiac Imaging, which provides mobile cardiac positron emission tomography scans.

HCA Healthcare has filed a motion with the North Carolina Business Court, asking it to dismiss claims from the North Carolina attorney general that the for-profit hospital operator violated its 2019 asset purchase agreement for Asheville, N.C.-based Mission Health System, according to local news outlets. 

Los Angeles-based Prospect Medical Holdings, which owns Upland, Pa.-based Crozer Health, has withdrawn its lawsuit against the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education after the organization removed Crozer-Chester Medical Center's surgical residency program's accreditation.

CMS and the FBI are investigating an alleged catheter fraud scheme that is estimated to have cost Medicare about $2 billion in two years, The Washington Post reported Feb. 9.

A Pennsylvania physician was sentenced to 22 years in prison for overprescribing controlled substances that resulted in the death of a patient.

A Suffolk Superior Court judge has dismissed families' lawsuits against Boston-based Harvard Medical School related to its morgue scandal involving the theft of human remains from bodies donated for medical research, multiple media outlets reported.

The Washington State Senate has passed Senate Bill 5241, known as the Keep Our Care Act, which would add care access rules for hospital mergers. 

From an orthopedic practice suing to keep to Wisconsin hospitals opened past their planned closure date to a judge upholding $183M malpractice verdict against Penn Medicine, here are 12 lawsuits, settlements and legal developments Becker's has reported since Jan. 30: 

A former California hospital CEO has pleaded no contest to charges related to his time at Healthcare Conglomerate Associates, a hospital management firm based in Tulare, Calif.

A 53-year-old man has been charged in connection with the stabbing of an employee at Sutter Health's Mills-Peninsula Medical Center in Burlingame, Calif., San Mateo County prosecutors said in a Feb. 9 media statement shared with Becker's.

An alleged fraud scheme uncovered by the National Association of Accountable Care Organizations could be costing Medicare $2 billion, The Washington Post reported Feb. 9. 

Detroit-based Henry Ford Health has secured preliminary approval from District Judge Sean Cox of Eastern District of Michigan to contribute $5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit by employees who alleged their retirement plans were too costly compared to other similar, lower-cost investment options. 

A lawsuit filed in Florida accuses Intuitive Surgical, a medical device company, of knowingly selling a surgical robot with known insulation issues that burned a woman's small intestine during an operation, NBC News reported. 

A Wisconsin orthopedic practice is suing to keep two Hospital Sisters Health System-owned hospitals open at least three months past their planned closure date. 

Becker's has reported on four health systems that have agreed to settle improper billing allegations since Jan. 5: