Legal & Regulatory Issues

A certified nursing assistant who worked at PeaceHealth Cottage Grove (Ore.) Community Medical Center has filed a lawsuit, claiming he was fired in retaliation for his complaints about what he described as unsafe staffing, according to The Lund Report.

A nurse has been sentenced to one year in prison for tampering with injectable fentanyl while working at a hospital in Jacksonville, Fla., the U.S. Justice Department said July 20.

A patient at Washington, D.C.-based Deanwood Rehabilitation and Wellness Center was charged July 21 with second-degree murder in the bludgeoning of his 80-year-old roommate with a metal bed rail, The Washington Post reported July 21.

Gary, Ind.-based Methodist Hospitals has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit for $425,000 following a June 2019 phishing attack that compromised the protected health information of patients. 

Biogen has agreed to pay $900 million to resolve False Claim Act allegations involving kickbacks.

A physician assistant from Monroe, N.C., was indicted July 20 on federal charges in a genetic testing scheme involving $10 million in fraudulent Medicare claims. 

Thirty-six people across the U.S. were charged for their alleged roles in schemes involving $1.2 billion in fraudulent telemedicine, durable medical equipment, cardiovascular and cancer genetic testing, the Justice Department announced July 20. 

A North Carolina judge is seeking answers from HCA Healthcare by July 25 in a class-action lawsuit alleging the Nashville, Tenn.-based hospital operator engaged in anti-competitive tactics. 

An employee was arrested July 19 at Reeves County Hospital in Pecos, Texas, after police found him in his office in possession of a gun, according to NewsWest 9. 

BioReference Health, formerly known as BioReference Laboratories, and OPKO Health have agreed to pay $9.85 million to resolve alleged violations of the False Claims Act arising from BioReference’s payment of above-market rents to physician landlords for office space to induce…