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 U.S. Department of Justice announced the judgment, which was issued against two facilities in Pennsylvania. The nursing homes fraudulently billed Medicare and Medicaid for working hours despite staff not being on the floor.
In court documents, an unnamed Minnesota woman said that in 2022, she was admitted to an Allina Health hospital and scheduled for the removal of her infected spleen, only for an error to result in her left kidney being removed instead.
Community Health System and Physician Network Advantage, an affiliated technology consultancy firm, were accused of bribing physicians for patient referrals in the form of paid vacations, expensive gifts and business meetings held at strip clubs.
The company told Cardiovascular Business it respectfully disagrees with the jury's decision and is evaluating all possible legal options going forward. The Association of Medical Device Reprocessors, meanwhile, celebrated the news.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reports that UnitedHealth Group is being investigated for criminal fraud, likely stemming from its Medicare Advantage billing practices.
John R. Manning, MD, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud for issuing unnecessary prescriptions billed to Medicare and receiving more than $812,000 in kickbacks.
UnitedHealth Group said it is seeking repayment of “interest-free” advances distributed to providers struggling during the shutdown of claims processing caused by the ransomware attack on Change Healthcare.
The academic medical center is accused of deploying lax security protocols that allowed an employee to access internet-connected cameras and private emails in acts of privacy invasion that lasted a decade.
Among the agencies impacted is the Department of Veterans Affairs, which released thousands of probationary workers as part of a staffing purge conducted by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Thomas J. Bryce, MD, purportedly only spent five minutes reading head and spine images of a 74-year-old who had experienced a fall, a fact harped on by winning plaintiff attorneys.
In issuing an injunction, a federal district court in Rhode Island ruled that states and their populations would suffer irreparable harm if the funds allocated by Congress were not granted to them.