The Georgia Department of Health denied a certificate-of-need extension request for Lee County to build a 50-bed medical center, albanyherald.com reported March 22.

The site www.ivermectin4covid.com, which touted ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment despite a lack of clinical evidence, is temporarily suspended after the FDA warned the site of violating the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

Lanham, Md.-based Luminis Health Doctors Community Medical Center and Diagnostic Imaging Associates have agreed to pay more than $2 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act. 

The MetroHealth System in Cleveland and its board of trustees have filed a motion to dismiss retaliation and intimidation claims from its former president and CEO, Law360 reported March 20. Akram Boutros, MD, was fired after allegedly authorizing more than $1.9 million in supplemental bonuses for himself without notifying the board.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear signed into law a measure that will boost Medicaid payment rates for outpatient procedures, legislation designed to protect rural hospitals in the state.

Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Spectrum Health has agreed to pay $6 million to settle an alleged violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, Pension and Investments reported March 20.

Two lawmakers are seeking information from the CEO of an HCA Florida hospital about its care quality and working conditions after a news report with troubling allegations. 

A physician and pharmacist were sentenced in a pain cream scheme that cost healthcare benefit providers more than $515 million in Mississippi, Clarion Ledger March 10.

New legislation proposed in the Colorado House of Representatives would require nonprofit hospitals to spend 3 percent of their revenue on community benefit, with the target eventually rising to 5 percent, The Denver Post reported March 20.

A Pennsylvania nurse practitioner pleaded guilty to four felony charges, including prescribing medications without a collaborating physician and false billing.

A physician at Springfield, Mass.-based Baystate Health faces a federal charge of possession of child pornography and allegations of recording patient exams after an earlier arrest due to a related state investigation.

A man in possession of a loaded gun was arrested March 16 at NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, according to Fox affiliate WNYW. 

Three former employees of Central State Hospital in Petersburg, Va., have been charged with second-degree murder in a patient's death, along with seven law enforcement deputies. 

From Wellstar Health getting hit with three federal complaints over the closure of two Atlanta-area hospitals, to a former CEO suing a Missouri hospital for slander, here are 10 hospital lawsuits and settlements reported by Becker's since Feb. 27:   

The U.S. filed a lawsuit against Mounds View, Minn.-based Midwest Medical Holdings on March 16, accusing the company that supplies pharmaceutical and medical products of owing millions of dollars in employment taxes. 

A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging a staffing executive at three home health agencies in Las Vegas with participating in a conspiracy to fix nurses' wages, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Nevada said March 16.

When a freezer tank at the Pacific Fertility Center in San Francisco malfunctioned in 2018, around 4,000 embryos and eggs inside were destroyed. Patients affected by the failure have now settled out of court with Chart, the manufacturer of the freezer tank for an undisclosed amount, The Washington Post reported March 15. 

A federal jury convicted physician Frederick Gooding, MD, of fraudulently billing Medicare more than $5 million for injections he did not perform or provide as billed. 

A Chicago-area physician is accused of 13 counts of healthcare fraud, including performing medically unnecessary procedures such as removing part of patients' uteruses.

Minnesota lawmakers introduced new legislation that, if passed, will require hospitals to screen all uninsured patients for charity care eligibility and assist them during the application process, the Post Bulletin reported March 16.