Legal & Regulatory Issues

Pittsburgh-based health insurer Highmark asked a federal judge yesterday to rejoin an antitrust lawsuit in order to keep its recent business agreements private, according to a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review report.

The American Hospital Association has commented on a rule that establishes unique identifiers for health plans and other entities, saying the rule would facilitate routing of electronic healthcare claims, according to an AHA News Now report.

The American Medical Association has filed a brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., challenging Federal Trade Commission antitrust enforcement action against a state licensing board that attempted to regulate who could provide teeth whitening services.

As the Department of Health and Human Services announced six more states will receive more than $181 million in grants to help establish Affordable Insurance Exchanges, it also issued an Exchange Blueprint for states to use to demonstrate how their…

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that six states — Illinois, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee and Washington — will receive more than $181 million of federal money to assist in implementing health insurance exchanges.

A federal district court judge in Washington, D.C., invalidated the National Labor Relations Board's expedited union election rule, which would have sped up union elections and limited participation in pre-election hearings, according to an AHA News Now report.

Glenn C. Campbell, MD, an ophthalmologist, is suing Virginia's Riverside Hospital over alleged breach of contract and violation of federal arbitration rules, according to a Virginia Gazette report.

U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti ruled that University of Pittsburgh Medical Center may file its recent agreement with health insurer Highmark under seal as an exhibit to stay an antitrust case, according to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette report.

Southeast Volusia Hospital District and Bert Fish Medical Center in New Smyrna Beach, Fla., have reached a settlement with the law firm it accused of giving faulty legal advice during a merger with Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based Adventist Health System, according…

Temple University in Philadelphia and Joseph J. Kubacki, MD, former chairman of the medical school's ophthalmology department, agreed to pay a combined settlement of roughly $1.09 million over Temple's voluntary disclosure of fraudulent billing.