Legal & Regulatory Issues

As the Senate considers adding more Medicare-funded residency positions to meet future needs for physicians, the Association of American Medical Colleges reports that about 1,500 currently funded positions go unfilled, according to a report by Bloomberg.

A transmittal from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services provides guidance on the voluntary use of advance beneficiary notices and adjustments to two modifiers used when billing for these services, according to a report in MLN Matters.

The Montana Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Great Falls (Mont.) Clinic in a case regarding the legality of the clinic's inclusion of a non-compete clause in physician contracts, according to a report by the Great Falls Tribune.

Varian. V. Scott of Miami, Fla., has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison on charges of healthcare fraud and conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud for his role in a $1.1 million Medicaid fraud scheme, according to a U.S.…

Plans for new physician-owned hospitals would have little or no chance of beating a proposed ban if current language in the Senate and House reform bills is passed, according to the executive of the national physician hospitals organization.

Our Lady of Lourdes Health Care Services in Camden N.J. has agreed to pay $7.95 million to resolve allegations that the hospitals defrauded Medicare by using outlier payments to inflate charges, according to a release by the Justice Department.

B. Bennie Perkins of Plymouth, Minn., the owner of a home healthcare company pleaded guilty in federal court to obtaining $74,000 from Medicaid fraudulently by causing submission of reimbursement claims for personal care assistant services that, in truth, were not…

The Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services have announced the expansion of Strike Force operations to Brooklyn, N.Y., Tampa, Fla., and Baton Rouge, La., in the fifth, sixth and seventh phases of a targeted criminal, civil and administrative…

A representative of the U.S. Department of Justice said he department will work with hospitals and other providers to create models of clinical integration that do not violate antitrust laws, according to a report by AHA News Now.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has indicated that he will drop a proposal in the health reform bill to allow people ages 55-64 to buy into the Medicare program, according to a report by the Hill.