From two of the nation’s largest PBMs challenging an Arkansas law to Lee Health and Nicklaus Children’s reaching a deal to keep a pediatric center open, here are 10 healthcare industry lawsuits, settlements and legal developments that Becker’s has reported since May 20:
1. CVS Health and Express Scripts, two of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit managers, filed separate lawsuits challenging a new Arkansas law that restricts PBMs and their affiliated pharmacies from dispensing medications within the state.
2. Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta agreed to pay a job applicant $50,000 to settle claims that the health system violated federal law by rescinding a job offer after the applicant requested a disability-related accommodation.
3. Elevance Health’s Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia is suing HaloMD, Hospitalist Medicine Physicians of Georgia and Sound Physicians Emergency Medicine of Georgia, alleging the three organizations exploited the No Surprises Act’s Independent Dispute Resolution process for financial gain.
4. Clearwater, Fla.-based BayCare Health System agreed to pay $800,000 to HHS’ Office for Civil Rights and implement a corrective action plan as part of a settlement concerning alleged HIPAA violations.
5. A months-long dispute over the future of pediatric care in Collier County reached a resolution, as Fort Myers, Fla.-based Lee Health and Nicklaus Children’s announced a settlement agreement ensuring that the Golisano Children’s Health Center in Naples, Fla., will remain open and operational.
6. An investor-led lawsuit was dropped against UnitedHealth Group, its former CEO Andrew Witty, and CFO John Rex, which alleged the company misled investors about its corporate strategy in the aftermath of the December killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
7. The U.S. Trustee for the Southern District of Texas filed an expedited motion to convert Dallas-based Steward Health Care’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case to a Chapter 7 liquidation due to the for-profit health system’s inability to pay around $127 million in administrative claims.
8. The state of New Hampshire and Lebanon-based Dartmouth Health, Concord Hospital Health System and the New Hampshire Hospital Association reached a settlement agreement on pending litigation over the state’s Medicaid Enhancement Tax and Disproportionate Share Hospital payments.
9. A California jury awarded $147 million in damages to medical device reprocessor Innovative Health after finding that Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Biosense Webster illegally restricted hospitals’ access to clinical support when they used reprocessed catheters instead of new ones.
10. A former patient of Buffalo, N.Y.-based Catholic Health is suing agentic AI company Serviceaide over a 2024 data breach that allegedly exposed the private information of 483,126 individuals.
