Stories about physicians and other healthcare professionals involved in lawsuits—as either a plaintiff or a defendant—or accused of breaking the law. Various legal updates or unusual stories in the news may land here.
Nashville, Tennessee-based Integrated Oncology Network alerted Health and Human Services in late June about the hacking incident, with thousands potentially affected.
The Pennsylvania-based health system reported drug diversion incidents to authorities involving a pharmacy technician who used employee passwords to steal pills from one of its hospitals.
The pharmacy chain said it plans to appeal the ruling. The complaint was brought by a former employee turned whistleblower who alleged that Omnicare had billed the government for millions of unnecessary prescriptions.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the OIG and FBI are also involved in the DOJ's criminal probe into alleged incidents of upcoding by the Medicare Advantage insurer. UnitedHealth denied any wrongdoing.
Jawad Bhatti, MD, is facing a 26-count indictment from the U.S. Department of Justice after he allegedly advertised the use of ozone gas as a treatment for pain, then billed Medicare and Medicaid for the unapproved procedures.
The insurance giant said it will link executive compensation to provider and patient satisfaction, in addition to releasing an annual transparency report on claims reimbursement and denials.
Axia Women’s Health has accused the insurer of failing to honor continuity of care agreements for 2,100 patients, while questions remain over fair pricing and appropriate care delivery.
A federal judge also halted the order, which instructed federal agencies to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all federal financial assistance."