Legal & Regulatory Issues

The Fair Political Practices Commission has rejected a union's complaint that alleges Bakersfield, Calif.-based Kern County Hospital Authority overpaid its executives through their own private consulting firms.

A group of federal lawmakers, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, have introduced legislation they say would eliminate all $220 billion in medical debt held by Americans. 

The owner and sole physician of a medical clinic in Bellflower, Calif., pleaded guilty to a scheme that submitted more than $4.6 million in fraudulent claims to Medi-Cal. 

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and the Catholic Medical Association sued the Biden administration May 6 over a new rule under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act that the administration says advances protections against discrimination in healthcare.

A Florida lab owner was sentenced to 10 years in prison for three fraud schemes, including a conspiracy involving $25 million in fraudulent Medicare claims submitted by Ellwood City (Pa.) Medical Center. 

A Missouri man is facing a second-degree murder charge after police say he allegedly strangled his wife in her hospital bed at HCA Midwest Health's Centerpoint Medical Center, the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office said May 4.

A New Jersey physician was sentenced to 26 months in prison for his role in a healthcare fraud scheme that targeted Amtrak. 

Jacksonville, Fla.-based Baptist Health has agreed to pay $1.5 million to address accusations of breaching the False Claims Act. 

Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health is suing Los Angeles-based Prospect Medical Holdings, from whom it is attempting to acquire three Connecticut hospitals, as it seeks to get out of the deal, CT Mirror reported May 3.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar is calling on the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate potentially anticompetitive conduct by data analytics firm MultiPlan.