Austin-based Genotox Laboratories agreed to pay upward of $5.9 million to settle False Claims Act allegations related to third-party market commissions, the Justice Department said April 4.

Sandy Mai Trang Nguyen, a former licensed pharmacist in Irvine, Calif., was found guilty on 21 counts of healthcare fraud and sentenced to 180 months in federal prison.

Bethlehem, Pa.-based St. Luke's University Health Network is facing a proposed class-action lawsuit that accuses the system of charging some unvaccinated employees more for health insurance, lehighvalleylive.com reported March 31. 

Facility fees add an unexpected burden to families in Colorado, Nicholas Nonas, MD, a retired physician, wrote in Colorado Politics April 3.

A Maryland jury awarded almost $34 million to the parents of a boy who suffered severe brain damage at University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson after being delivered by emergency C-section, despite no indication of fetal distress, The Daily Record reported March 31. 

A federal jury has convicted a Michigan physician on 21 charges related to the unlawful distribution of prescription drugs and a patient's overdose death, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan said March 31.

A Kentucky physician and nurse practitioner were each sentenced to prison for a scheme involving healthcare fraud, kickbacks and conspiracy to commit money laundering. 

Nagaindra Srivastav of Tampa, Fla., has been sentenced to nine years in prison and ordered to pay more than $48 million in restitution after he was convicted of conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks.

The Department of Labor has filed a complaint against Advanced Care Staffing and its CEO alleging they forced employees to pay back earned wages if they quit early. 

Yolanda Pierson, a patient at Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic who was sued by the system for outstanding medical bills, testified in front of Minnesota lawmakers in support of a bill that would increase charity care transparency, the Post Bulletin reported March 30.

Former nurse Faith Naccarato was sentenced to 12 months and a day in prison for stealing fentanyl from two Kansas hospitals where she previously worked.

Oregon lawmakers are considering new measures to regulate how hospitals discharge homeless patients after 34-year-old Melissa Blake died of hypothermia after she left Salem (Ore.) Health Hospital, local news outlet KATU reported March 29.

The owner of a Utah lab pleaded guilty to his role in an $89 million fraud and kickback scheme involving genetic cancer screening tests. 

Saginaw, Mich.-based Covenant HealthCare and two physicians have paid more than $69 million in three civil settlements to resolve alleged violations of the False Claims Act.

Kettering (Ohio) Health has hired an outside firm to conduct an internal investigation into allegations of inappropriate fiscal and operational management, the Dayton Daily News reported March 27. The firm will recommend updates to processes and policies.

Major hospital groups are ramping up resistance to physician-owned hospitals, which were checked by the Affordable Care Act but have recently become subject of renewed attention.

A congressman has introduced a bill aimed at closing a "shocking loophole" that has led to Medicare and Medicaid fraud and abuse, Kaiser Health News reported March 28. 

A whistleblower lawsuit filed against Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Erlanger Health System alleges hospital leaders knowingly overlapped surgeries and allowed trainees to operate without physician supervision, leading to patient safety issues and illegal billing practices, Times Free Press reported March 27.

A court has awarded $20 million to a man who alleged that his left leg had to be amputated after his blood clot was misdiagnosed as sciatica by staff at Lowell (Mass.) General Hospital, according to The Boston Globe. 

The Houston-based owners of a home health company have been indicted on charges related to an alleged $8.7 million healthcare fraud scheme.