The following investigations, lawsuits, settlements or other legal developments involving healthcare providers were reported within the past month, beginning with the most recent.
Legal & Regulatory Issues
The Department of Justice has intervened in a False Claims lawsuit against Mobile, Ala.-based Infirmary Health System, which allegedly billed Medicare for services referred by physicians in violation of the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute.
Doctors Hospital of Augusta (Ga.) has agreed to pay $1.02 million to resolve allegations that it submitted or caused the submission of false claims to Medicare and Tricare, according to an Augusta Chronicle report.
HHS' Office of the Inspector General has issued an advisory opinion (pdf) stating that a clinical lab company's plan to contract directly with physician groups to establish their own labs could violate the anti-kickback statute.
A California law that halted Medicaid coverage for adult dental, podiatry, optometry, chiropractic care and other healthcare services has been struck down by a federal appeals court, according to a San Francisco Chronicle report.
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South Carolina's certificate of need law is in limbo, and hospitals in the state are taking caution about how to proceed with their construction projects, according to a Times and Democrat report.
Tacoma, Wash.-based Sound Inpatient Physicians will pay $14.5 million to resolve allegations it overbilled Medicare and other federal health programs.
The potential damages and penalties in the whistleblower suit against Daytona Beach, Fla.-based Halifax Health could hit $1 billion, according to a Daytona Beach News-Journal report.
HHS announced yesterday that it awarded $32 million in grants to organizations across 22 states for efforts to identify and enroll children eligible for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Individual Connecting Kids to Coverage Outreach Enrollment Grants…
Fifty-five hospitals across 21 states have agreed to pay more than $34 million combined to resolve alleged false claims to Medicare for kyphoplasty procedures.