Legal & Regulatory Issues

A cardiologist from Hot Springs, Ark., has agreed to pay $900,000 to settle allegations he submitted claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary placement of cardiac stents. 

Three women have been charged with third-degree theft and conspiracy to commit theft after plotting to steal more than $70,000 from Morristown, N.J.-based Atlantic Health System, NJ.com reported Jan. 5. 

New York gastroenterologist Morris Barnard, MD, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for healthcare fraud, the Justice Department said Jan. 5.

Kentucky cardiologist Kishor Vora, MD, paid $931,500 to settle allegations he took kickbacks from a testing lab, the Justice Department said Jan. 4.

Alan Pean, who was shot in his hospital room by an off-duty police officer during a mental health crisis, won $902,500 in a settlement with the city of Houston, the Texas Observer reported Jan. 4.

A judge upheld his order for Franciscan Health to keep its emergency room in Hammond, Ind., open for nine months despite the system arguing that doing so is unsafe. The health system is now appealing that decision. 

Physician-Led Healthcare for America said the expansion of a physician-owned hospital near the Texas-Mexico border is a "win" for patients.

The Justice Department sued drug distributor AmerisourceBergen, one of the largest in the nation, over allegedly failing to flag suspicious orders for opioids and other controlled substances, according to a Dec. 29 news release.

An East Baton Rouge, La.-based physician pleaded guilty to his role in a $1.3 million Medicare fraud scheme, The Advocate reported Dec. 28. 

Franciscan Health filed documents asking a judge to lift a preliminary injunction for continued emergency room operations in Hammond, Ind., for nine months, calling compliance with the order "impossible," The Times of Northwest Indiana reported Dec. 29.