Legal & Regulatory Issues

Lawyers for patients have said there have been no talks to settle 115 lawsuits filed against Greensburg, Pa.-based Excela Health over allegedly unnecessary heart procedures that occurred at one of the system's hospitals, according to a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review report.

Now with the U.S. Supreme Court's blessing, the Federal Trade Commission is beginning the process of splitting the merger of two Albany, Ga.-based hospitals — Phoebe Putney Health System and Palmyra Medical Center.

Three congressmen have introduced a bipartisan bill that would change the Medicare policy for coverage of skilled nursing care.

The California Department of Industrial Relations has fined Pacific Health Corp., a hospital chain based in Los Angeles, more than $7 million for failing to pay employee wages and forcing employees to wait for payments, according to a Los Angeles…

The District of Columbia Health Benefit Exchange Authority voted to mandate that qualifying small businesses would have to offer employees' health plans from the district's health insurance exchange, according to a report by the Washington Post. 

The National Labor Relations Board plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that found three NLRB appointments to be invalid, according to an AHA News Now report.

CMS has proposed two rules that would pay for more hospital inpatient services under Medicare Part B when a Medicare Part A claim is denied.

The gynecologist who owns the practice Bangor (Maine) Women's HealthCare has agreed to pay nearly $300,000 to settle a federal billing complaint, according to a Bangor Daily News report.

An employee of Underwood-Memorial Hospital in Woodbury, N.J., has filed suit against employer and parent company Vineland, N.J.-based South Jersey Healthcare, alleging she has been denied proper overtime pay, according to a Philadelphia Business Journal report.

The Federal Trade Commission and Idaho's attorney general have filed an antitrust complaint against St. Luke's Health System in Boise, Idaho, challenging its acquisition of a large physician group, according to a Wall Street Journal report.