Connecticut Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis, who is presiding over the ongoing lawsuit between former students of the closed Stone Academy nursing school and its owners, wrote in a Dec. 4 preliminary ruling that the students' are likely to prevail.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is weighing a bill that seeks to prohibit noncompete agreements, which would make New York the fifth state with such a ban if enacted. 

A court has ruled in favor of a Michigan hospital that denied a nursing student's request to bring her service dog on rotations, according to a Dec. 5 JD Supra report written by Seyfarth Shaw law firm. 

The owner of Miami-based AMB Research Center, a clinic that conducted clinical trials for new drugs, and a pharmacy technician also employed by it, have both been convicted and sentenced to a combined 117 months — nearly 10 years — in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. 

New rules from CMS are affecting access to molecular diagnostic testing — a blood test a patient who has received an organ transplant can use at home to track how their body is adjusting to the new organ. 

A nurse at Provo-based Utah Valley Hospital has been arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse after an infant was found with bruises, KSL reported Dec. 5.

St. Louis-based Washington University is suing Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey over his demand to access Washington University Transgender Center patient records, the Missouri Independent reported Dec. 6.

A Washington physician has been charged in a $14 million fraudulent medical supply scheme that targeted Medicare and Tricare members in five states, the Justice Department said Dec. 4. 

From a California hospital filing an antitrust lawsuit against Optum to Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital seeking a retrial in a case made famous by a Netflix documentary, here are 10 hospital lawsuits, settlements and legal developments Becker's has reported since Nov. 20:

A former executive of Little River Healthcare — a critical access hospital in Rockdale, Texas, — and three physicians have agreed to pay $880,199 between them to resolve False Claims Act allegations, including alleged violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute. 

Two U.S. senators say it's time for U.S. Anesthesia Partners and its parent company, Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, a private equity firm, to pay the piper following the Federal Trade Commission's anticompetitive scheme lawsuit in late September.

A superior court judge ordered Alan Germany, former CFO of Health Care Conglomerate Associates, to write an apology letter and pay $150,000 in restitution as part of a plea agreement in relation to charges that included embezzlement, conflict of interest and using his official position for personal gain, the Valley Voice reported Dec. 2.

President Joe Biden is preparing a package of second-term healthcare measures after contenders for the Republican presidential nomination suggested they plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he aims to "replace and supersede" the Affordable Care Act if successful in the 2024 presidential election, making him one more candidate returning focus to the healthcare law after its spell of quiet in politics. 

A former security guard at Banner University Medical Center-Phoenix was arrested Nov. 28 after he was accused of committing sexual acts on the body of a deceased 79-year-old woman in the hospital's morgue. 

In a victory for hospitals and medical equipment manufacturer Becton Dickinson, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled Nov. 30 that these entities cannot be sued for privacy violations over requiring nurses to scan their fingerprints when accessing medicine for distribution. 

HHS' Office of Inspector General recovered over $3 billion in fraudulent payments in 2023, according to the agency's semiannual report to Congress. 

The co-owner and CEO of a Louisiana diagnostic laboratory was indicted for his alleged role in a scheme to defraud Medicare and Medicaid of more than $148 million in unnecessary testing. 

Novo Nordisk has sued about a dozen spas, clinics and pharmacies, over unapproved versions of semaglutide, the active ingredient for its Type 2 diabetes drug Ozempic and weight loss therapy Wegovy. 

Following a seven-week trial, five defendants, including hospital and laboratory executives, have been found guilty in a kickback conspiracy.