Legal & Regulatory Issues

Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic reached a settlement agreement Wednesday to permanently withdraw a lawsuit against the former CEO of Mayo Medical Labs, Franklin R. Cockerill III, MD, according to the Post-Bulletin.

Fourteen people have been arrested and charged in connection with the fungal meningitis outbreak that killed 64 people and sickened more than 680 in several states in 2012, according to The New York Times.

Vic Wadhwa, the former CFO of a group of pain management clinics located in central Maryland, has pleaded guilty to soliciting and receiving kickbacks in return for referrals, according to the Department of Justice.

Albany-based Research Foundation of the State University of New York agreed to pay $4 million to settle allegations employees falsified Medicaid audits in a violation of the False Claims Act, according to the Syracuse Post-Standard.  

For the first time since July 2013, the United States has a surgeon general again.

The family of Lynne Spalding, the patient who was found dead in a stairwell at San Francisco (Calif.) General Hospital in October 2013, has entered into a $2.9 million settlement with the City of San Francisco, according to The San…

This year, there have been a number of significant False Claims Act developments that affected the healthcare industry, according to a recent report from the law firm Epstein Becker Green.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee plans to hold hearing on ICD-10 implementation in 2015.

The former CFO at Ishpeming, Mich.-based Bell Hospital has filed a lawsuit against Brentwood, Tenn.-based LifePoint Hospitals alleging he was terminated as Bell Hospital's financial leader because of his age, according to an ABC10 report.

The following is a roundup of recently reported healthcare industry lawsuits, lawsuit updates, settlements and resolutions, starting with the most recent.