Legal & Regulatory Issues

Louisiana residents Denis and Donna Joachim were sentenced March 17 for creating, marketing and operating a $48 million fraudulent medical reimbursement program, according to a Justice Department news release.

Former Virginia physician Leonard Rosen, MD, was sentenced March 18 for his role in a $1.8 million fraud scheme that exploited payers and patients, according to The Washington Post.

From a health system defeating an antitrust lawsuit to a defunct Arkansas hospital sued for allegedly failing to protect patient information, here are the latest hospital lawsuits making headlines. 

The Arkansas attorney general filed a lawsuit March 17 against a defunct hospital accusing it of failing to protect sensitive patient information after it closed.

The Justice Department can intervene in a lawsuit accusing Methodist Le Bonheur of orchestrating a kickback scheme and submitting hundreds of millions of dollars in false claims, the Commercial Appeal reported March 15. 

Democrats in both chambers of Congress introduced a bill March 16 that would require the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department to overhaul their merger processes, according to Politico. 

A patient filed a putative class-action lawsuit against Charlotte, N.C.-based Novant Health, accusing the health system of charging a hidden fee for emergency room visits. 

Idaho on March 14 passed legislation that would ban abortions after about six weeks and allow families to sue clinicians who perform the procedures. The bill is modeled after Texas' law, which took effect last September, according to The New…

Sacramento, Calif.-based Sutter Health has defeated a $411 million class-action lawsuit alleging that it used its market power to negotiate restrictive contracts with major insurers and overcharge millions of premium-paying patients, according to Law360.

A California physician and a patient recruiter were charged with bilking Medicare out of more than $36 million, the Justice Department said this week.