Courts are protecting unjustified peer review actions by hospitals against physicians, according to a commentary (pdf) in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons.
Legal & Regulatory Issues
Two senators have written a letter to Marilyn Tavenner, the acting administrator of CMS, asking her what steps the agency will take to reduce fraud under her leadership. Tom Coburn, MD, (R-Okla.) and Scott Brown (R-Mass.) — members of the…
FBI agents have interviewed a former patient about her 2010 stay at Redding, Calif.-based Shasta Medical Center, a Prime facility that billed Medicare for treating the patients’ kwashiorkor — a severe form of malnutrition — according to a report from…
A whistleblower has amended her lawsuit against Wyoming Medical Center in Casper to include claims that she was fired out of retaliation after reporting possible billing fraud, according to a Casper Star-Tribune report. Gale Bryden amended the suit she filed…
The Department of Health and Human Services has submitted proposed rules in the Federal Register recommending transplants of the face, hand and other body parts be included in the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network to improve access to this service,…
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A former employee has filed suit against Naples, Fla.-based Health Management Associates claiming he was wrongly terminated after discovering fraudulent Medicare billing, according to a Naples Daily News report. Paul Meyer, the former director of HMA’s corporate compliance department, claims…
Denver Health Medical Center has agreed to pay $6.3 million to the United States and State of Colorado to resolve allegations that it overbilled Medicare and Medicaid, according to a news release from the Attorney General of Colorado. The hospital…
The former vice president of corporate services at University Medical Center in Albuquerque, N.M., is the target of a federal investigation separate from the hospital, according to a report from the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. An internal audit at the hospital recently…
A column from the Los Angeles Times today claims the CEO of a Prime hospital in Redding, Calif., showed a patient’s chart in its entirety to a newspaper editor without permission — a violation of state and federal patient privacy…
The whistleblower accusing Wyoming Medical Center of fraud has received permission to amend her lawsuit, which could include additional allegations and delay the hospital’s efforts to reach a quick settlement, according to a Casper Star-Tribune report. Whistleblower Gale Bryden claims…