Legal & Regulatory Issues

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said the House plans to vote on legislation right away in January that will likely spark a veto battle with the White House, according to The Hill.

The Federal Trade Commission has authorized action to block the planned merger of Downers Grove, Ill.-based Advocate Health Care and Evanston, Ill.-based NorthShore University HealthSystem — a deal that would create the largest health system in Illinois.

Daniel Suarez, a 24-year-old pharmacy owner in Miami, and members of his family scammed Medicare for $21 million, according to the Washington Post.

OnSight Healthcare, a provider of podiatry, optometry, dentistry and auditory services to nursing homes, has agreed to pay $4.5 million to settle government charges it defrauded Medicare.

Two physicians and a registered nurse have been sentenced for their roles in a $50 million Medicare fraud scheme, which federal prosecutors said involved multiple companies over the course of more than 10 years, according to the Department of Justice.

Martin Shkreli, the 32-year-old CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, has been taken into custody by the FBI on charges of securities and wire fraud for allegedly illegally taking stock from Retrophin, a biotechnology firm he started in 2011, according to Bloomberg.

The U.S. House unveiled a 2,009-page omnibus spending bill early Wednesday that allots $2 billion to the National Institutes of Health for medical research — the biggest increase in funding for NIH in more than a decade.

Chicago-based Sinai Health System and University of Chicago Medicine will delay their push for approval for a Level 1 trauma center on the southwest side of Chicago, according to Crain's Chicago Business.  

There is no conflict between antitrust laws and the care coordination provisions of the Affordable Care Act, according to Deborah Feinstein, director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Competition.

A physician in Pendleton, Ind., has admitted he provided controlled substances to patients when not medically necessary and recorded sexual activity with two patients without their consent or knowledge, according to The Herald Bulletin.