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.
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.
Alignment Health is accusing CMS and a third-party contractor of surveying Spanish-speaking members in English and using an "arbitrary" calculation method to reduce the ratings of Medicare Advantage plans.
PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center removed the wrong man from life support and hid the mixup from the family for two years, the plaintiffs claim in a court filing.
Some of the claims in the lawsuit, brought against Novant Health by Kyle Horton, MD, are backed by a report from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
Melissa Hubbard says her gynecologist and surgeon decided to remove her ovaries during a colectomy but failed to inform her of their intent. The case’s fate is now in the hands of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Concerns stem from manufacturing and distribution of the BioZorb marker, with possible ramifications including "seizure, injunction and civil money penalties."
Tracy Young, CRNA, vice president at the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology, details the ongoing fight between providers and insurers over how anesthesiologists get paid.