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.
Of all lawsuits filed against patients in 2024 in one U.S. state, physician practices and other non-hospital healthcare entities accounted for 80% of cases. That’s a complete inversion from just six years prior.
"This case reflects a troubling pattern in which payers, dissatisfied with IDR results, increasingly try to attack those outcomes outside the framework Congress created," Rad Partners says.
Prosecutors allege that a licensed therapist in Georgia was working with co-conspirators to bill insurers for sessions that never happened, in exchange for kickbacks. In some cases, more than 24 hours of services were billed in a single day.
The 2024 ransomware attack on Ascension Health impacted operations in 12 states and led to protected health information being taken by hackers. A class action of plaintiffs is seeking damages.
Ohio Medical Alliance, which operates in six states to help individuals obtain medical marijuana cards, is facing a class action lawsuit after a cybersecurity researcher discovered a 323 GB trove of patient data online.
In May, a jury found the CVS subsidiary liable for filing 3.3 million fraudulent insurance claims between 2010 and 2018. The $949 million judgment was imposed in July.
Joshua Spriestersbach remained locked up in a Hawaii State Hospital psychiatric facility for nearly three years in a case of mistaken identity. However, a judge ruled neither the facility nor the staff is liable for his detainment.
Both companies are working on ChatGPT-like platforms designed exclusively for medical professionals. OpenEvidence accuses Doximity of attempting to steal its proprietary code, while the latter fires back with a defamation claim.
The defendants include operators and staff at nursing schools that were shut down over accusations they provided pay-for-play degrees that RNs and LPNs used to obtain licenses.
The Wall Street Journal said that President Donald Trump has yet to meet with company representatives. However, UnitedHealth CEO Stephen Hemsley reportedly met with members of the administration in Washington.