Audu Ozigi, a former operator of home health agencies, was sentenced to 168 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release after he was found guilty of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, falsifying patient files and fraudulently billing Medicare and Medicaid.

 A furloughed prisoner escaped custody Dec. 9 while receiving medical treatment at Erie, Pa.-based UPMC Hamot, according to local reports. Now, police are investigating whether he stole a hospital employee's car to skip town. 

Keith Berman, former CEO and director of Decision Diagnostics Corp., pleaded guilty to securities fraud, wire fraud and obstruction of an official proceeding.

A former VCU Health employee found guilty of second-degree murder after shooting his coworker in a hospital stairwell has been sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. 

Valhalla, N.Y.-based Westchester Medical Center Health Network has been ordered by a jury to pay $120 million to a patient and his family following delayed stroke care that resulted in brain damage.

A former Colorado ICU nurse found guilty of filming himself sexually assaulting more than a dozen unconscious patients will spend 20 years in prison, Local12 reported Dec. 10.

The Supreme Court on Dec. 11 threw out three cases challenging the federal government's COVID-19 vaccine mandates for federal employees and military members, preventing lower court rulings from establishing a precedent for future mandates, The Hill reported. 

The former owner of the now-shuttered Palm Beach School of Nursing in Florida will be the prosecution's main witness in a federal trial of three defendants accused of recruiting students into a coordinated scheme to sell them fake diplomas and transcripts, according to the Miami Herald. 

Akram Boutros, MD, former CEO of Cleveland-based MetroHealth, filed a motion to withdraw his lawsuit against the hospital's board due to health issues, Signal Cleveland reported Dec. 8. 

Florida lawmakers are proposing a package of healthcare laws for the state's 2024 legislative session, including measures to redirect patients from hospital emergency departments. 

Four health systems in Oregon are seeking to resurrect a lawsuit in which they contend the  state's inadequate mental healthcare system is causing them to be overburdened with psychiatric patients whom they're ill-equipped to care for, The Lund Report shared Dec. 7.

The Knoxville Police Department officially opened a homicide investigation on Dec. 7 into the death of a nurse who was attacked by a patient at East Tennessee Behavioral Health Center on Sept. 23.

From a medical equipment company owner receiving a 15-year sentence for a $24 million scheme to the conviction of a New York physician in a scheme that subjected Medicaid patients to unnecessary radiological tests, here are 10 healthcare billing fraud cases Becker's has reported since Nov. 27:

Hazard, Ky.-based Appalachian Regional Healthcare and one of its cardiologists agreed to pay over $3 million to resolve allegations they submitted improper Medicare and Kentucky Medicaid claims for services not covered.

 Hours after a Texas judge granted a woman's request to have an abortion, the state's attorney general sent a letter to hospitals in Houston, saying they may face civil and legal consequences if they permit the procedure to occur. 

A medical resident and two nurses at Newark (N.J.) Beth Israel Medical Center were stabbed Dec. 8, according to police and the hospital. 

Florida lawmakers are proposing a package of healthcare laws for the state's 2024 legislative session that would expand the healthcare workforce, address emergency room crowding, and create a loan program for healthcare innovators. 

A panel of outside experts who reviewed Harvard Medical School's morgue operations following allegations that a former employee at the morgue stole and sold human remains from bodies donated for medical research has recommended procedural improvements, multiple media outlets reported Dec. 7. 

Washington University in St. Louis has filed a lawsuit against Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, accusing him of violating HIPAA during an investigation into its youth transgender care center, The Kansas City Star reported Dec. 7. 

The Minnesota Board of Medical Practice has indefinitely suspended a respiratory therapist from practicing in the state after determining she failed to properly prepare a patient for transfer to the ICU, The Star Tribune reported Dec. 7.