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Legal & Regulatory Issues

In late November, CMS revised guidance for surveyors and healthcare providers regarding immediate jeopardy — the most serious type of warning for noncompliance deficiencies that place organizations at risk of losing federal funding. 

Two Fresno, Calif., physicians agreed to collectively pay more than $2.4 million to settle allegations that they solicited and received kickbacks in exchange for directing prescriptions to a group of mail-order pharmacies.

A federal court sentenced the owner of a Texas medical supply company to 60 months in prison after she pleaded guilty to a healthcare fraud scheme, the Justice Department said Dec. 2. 

As several pharmaceutical companies challenge their role in the 340B drug pricing program, Bristol Myers Squibb filed a lawsuit Nov. 26 against the HHS agency that oversees the federal program. 

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A former pharmacy technician at Chicago-based Lurie Children's Hospital has filed a lawsuit accusing the hospital of firing her in retaliation for reporting unsafe medication compounding practices, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Nov. 26. 

A Maryland medical malpractice attorney known for his aggressive tactics faces up to 20 years in prison after a federal jury convicted him of attempting to extort $25 million from the University of Maryland Medical System in Baltimore.

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