From a health system defeating an antitrust lawsuit to a defunct Arkansas hospital sued for allegedly failing to protect patient information, here are the latest hospital lawsuits making headlines. 

The Arkansas attorney general filed a lawsuit March 17 against a defunct hospital accusing it of failing to protect sensitive patient information after it closed.

The Justice Department can intervene in a lawsuit accusing Methodist Le Bonheur of orchestrating a kickback scheme and submitting hundreds of millions of dollars in false claims, the Commercial Appeal reported March 15. 

Democrats in both chambers of Congress introduced a bill March 16 that would require the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department to overhaul their merger processes, according to Politico. 

A patient filed a putative class-action lawsuit against Charlotte, N.C.-based Novant Health, accusing the health system of charging a hidden fee for emergency room visits. 

Idaho on March 14 passed legislation that would ban abortions after about six weeks and allow families to sue clinicians who perform the procedures. The bill is modeled after Texas' law, which took effect last September, according to The New York Times. 

Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health has defeated a $411 million class-action lawsuit alleging that it used its market power to negotiate restrictive contracts with major insurers and overcharge millions of premium-paying patients, according to Law360.

A California physician and a patient recruiter were charged with bilking Medicare out of more than $36 million, the Justice Department said this week.

UMass Memorial Health employees have filed a lawsuit against the Worcester, Mass.-based system, claiming they did not receive wages owed to them after hackers infiltrated the payroll system in December.

From the Colorado Supreme Court reviewing a medical billing case to a health insurance company suing a former executive, here are the latest healthcare industry lawsuits and settlements making headlines. 

Twelve physicians in Michigan and Ohio were among 16 defendants sentenced to prison for a healthcare fraud scheme that involved submitting $250 million in false billings to insurers, the Justice Department said March 9. 

A patient at Saint Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C., has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of a fellow patient, local police said March 9. 

Fort Myers, Fla.-based Lee Health and Cape Coral (Fla.) Hospital agreed to pay $12.7 million to resolve allegations that they submitted claims to federal insurers for services that didn't meet coverage criteria.

A New York physician pleaded guilty to billing Medicare for millions of dollars for medical services that were never rendered, the Justice Department said March 7.

The Colorado Supreme Court will take up a lawsuit March 8 centering on whether a patient who expected to pay $1,337 for a surgery will be on the hook for more of the bill that reached $303,709, according to the Denver Post.

Five groups have filed amicus briefs in support of a lawsuit in New York that seeks to allow people to receive free legal advice about debt collections, including medical debt from people who are not lawyers, according to court documents.

St. Joseph's/Candler Health System in Savannah, Ga., may have violated federal disability law by rescinding a job offer from a man with HIV, a federal judge ruled March 3, according to Bloomberg Law.

The former director of materials management at Three Rivers Medical Center in Louisa, Ky., pleaded guilty March 1 to mail fraud and admitted stealing more than $700,000 worth of medical and office supplies from the hospital, according to the Lexington Herald Leader. 

HHS will further delay the start date on a rule that would require the department to eliminate existing regulations after 10 years unless the department reviewed them and could justify keeping the regulation in place, according to an March 3 Federal Register notice.

From a Connecticut health system battling antitrust allegations to a Dallas-based health system accused of fraud, here are the latest health system lawsuits making headlines.