Legal & Regulatory Issues

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…

Law enforcement has charged a woman accused of impersonating a nurse to try to kidnap a newborn infant at Riverside University Health System-Medical Center in Moreno Valley, Calif., according to a news release from the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

Ophthalmologist Donald Salzberg, MD, of Avon, Conn., has pleaded guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and one count of conspiracy to receive kickbacks, the Justice Department announced July 14.

Three providers settled self-reported fraud claims for $500,000 or more in June, according to the HHS Office of the Inspector General: 

Stillwater-based Oklahoma State University Center for Health Science has agreed to pay a financial penalty of $875,000 to resolve allegations it violated HIPAA privacy, security and breach notification rules stemming from a 2018 data breach. 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the Biden administration over HHS guidance that says hospitals must provide abortions in emergency cases. 

Chapel Hill, N.C.-based University of North Carolina Health will pay a $125,000 settlement to two blind patients who said the system did not provide billing or health information in Braille or any other accessible format, according to a report in…

Berwyn, Pa.-based Fresenius Vascular Care has been accused of defrauding Medicare and other healthcare programs through "billing for unnecessary procedures" at nine of its locations, the Justice Department said July 13. 

A Pompano Beach, Fla.-based specialty pharmacy agreed to pay $1.31 million to resolve allegations that it submitted false claims to Medicare for prescriptions for an expensive treatment used for opioid overdoses. 

A New York man is facing the potential of nearly five decades in prison after a federal jury convicted him July 13 for an elaborate $600 million healthcare billing fraud, wire fraud and identity theft scheme.