Legal & Regulatory Issues

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has said that hospitals seeking to provide the technical component of advanced diagnostic imaging services do not have to be accredited, according to a report in AHA News Now.

Responding to an earlier report, officials from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts said it will not pay for phone calls made by physicians or other healthcare providers, according to a report in The Patriot Ledger.

In a setback for physicians and hospitals, the Illinois Supreme Court nullified the state's medical malpractice law, ruling that a cap on non-economic damages enacted in 2005 by the state legislature is invalid.

Romilla Anwar, MD, of New Providence, N.J., and Anatoly Sunik of Rego Park, N.Y., were sentenced on Jan. 29, 2010, to 30 months and 12 months in prison, respectively, in a Manhattan Federal Court after pleading guilty to healthcare fraud…

A bill in the Pennsylvania Senate introduced by Sen. John Rafferty (R-Collegeville) would reduce medical malpractice insurance costs in the state by setting the basic medical liability coverage level that at $500,000, according to a report by the Republican Herald.

The California Society of Anesthesiologists and the California Medical Association have filed suit in California Superior Court against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for his decision to "opt out" of Medicare's requirement that CRNAs may only administer anesthesia under the supervision of…

The Christ Hospital and the Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati have settled a federal whistleblower lawsuit on alleged kickbacks to physicians for a sum that could approach $100 million, according to a report by the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Hospitals will soon be able to query the National Practitioner Data Bank to conduct background checks on licensed health workers, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has issued Transmittal 620 to address improper payments in areas discussed in four reports released by the Office of the Inspector General.

Healthcare facilities now have 18 months to fully transition to an alternative reprocessing device from the Steris System 1 processor, according to news release from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.