The Oregon Senate voted Feb. 24 in favor of a bill that, if passed, would require hospitals to treat a patient’s citizenship or immigration status the same as protected health information. The Healthcare Without Fear Act will need to pass…
Legal & Regulatory Issues
CMS is freezing $259.5 million in federal Medicaid funding to Minnesota, citing unsupported or potentially fraudulent claims in the state’s program. “We have decided to temporarily halt certain amounts of Medicaid funding that are going to the state of Minnesota…
Phoenix-based Southwest Orthopedic and Spine Hospital — doing business as Oasis Hospital — has agreed to pay $5.6 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by maintaining improper financial relationships with a referring physician group. The…
California, Pennsylvania and 13 other states filed a lawsuit Feb. 24 against HHS, alleging the agency’s recent changes to the CDC’s vaccine recommendations were illegal. In early January, HHS transformed the CDC’s childhood immunization schedule, which previously recommended vaccines for…
Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger will settle a lawsuit a federal agency filed in 2021, which accused the health system of discriminating against employees with disabilities, for $450,000. The lawsuit alleged Geisinger, the system’s foundation and one of its hospitals in Wilkes-Barre,…
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Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente is suing nine liability insurers for breach of contract, alleging they have refused to cover any portion of its $556 million settlement with the federal government resolving False Claims Act allegations tied to Medicare Advantage billing…
Editor’s note: The bill was held without a committee vote on Feb. 23. It is not expected to advance this session. Original article: Arizona providers could face license suspension or revocation for submitting too high of payment offers during No…
Children’s Hospital Colorado, Colorado Springs received and resolved an immediate jeopardy warning in 48 hours after experiencing a graywater leak in the milk and formula lab, KRDO reported Feb. 19. On Jan. 15, a plumber was paged to the milk…
The Justice Department and the state of Ohio on Feb. 20 filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against OhioHealth, alleging the system used anticompetitive contract provisions to drive up healthcare costs for patients and employers in central Ohio. Four things to…
CMS outlined next steps for its Medicare Advantage provider directory and shared plans to “beta launch” a broader National Provider Directory later this year, according to a Feb. 18 document. The agency has structured the initiative in three phases. The…