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.
A Portland-area cardiologist has been accused of implanting more than 100 patients with unnecessary pacemakers, incentivized by free travel and gifts from device sales representatives, the East Oregonian reports.