August 1, 2020 Recent Legal News
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West Virginia v Mays
Guilty
Reta Mays, a former NA at the VA hospital plead guilty of killing eight veterans while on the night shift at the hosital. She gave them insulin even though she was not allowed to give meds. She will go to prison for life.
Tennessee v Robinson
Indicted
State Senator Katrina Robinson, a Democrat RN, was indicted for embezzlement and wire fraud. she is accused of stealing funds when she was the director of The Healthcare Institute, a healthcare job training organization. She is accused of using the funds from HHS for paying legal fees for her divorce, home improvements, a wedding and honeymoon along with a new Jeep for her daughter. She says she is being targeted for being black.
Patients v TeamHealth
Filed
A class action suit was filed accusing TeamHealth deceived patients by deceptive billing practices for surprise bills.
US v Longwood Management Company
Settlement
The LA skilled nursing organization agreed to pay millions of dollars and enter into a corporate integrity agreement to settle allegations that they file multitudes of fasle claims for many years for rehab procedures not needed nor medically necessary.
US v Wolfe
Patrick Wolfe, of Belleair , Florida, admitted guilt for paying kickbacks for signed orders for DME. This is part of the huge $480 million fraud in Southern Georgia.
US v Tieu
Indicted
Huu Tieu, of Porterville, California, was charged with making herbal mixtures and panning them off as Covid cures.
US v Novaritis
Settlement
Novaritis earlier paid Uncle Sam $678 million to settle charges of illegal kickbacks. It has now been revealed that the single whistleblower, a prior sales rep Oswald Bilotta, will get $105 million for bringing the action.
US v Buford
Indicted
Edward Buford, DDS of Silver Springs, Maryland, was indicted along with business partners Donnie Amis and Kasandra Vitchez-Duarte for allegedly paying kickbacks to get patients to bill Medicaid for dental services.
US v Sterling Healthcare Opco (Cordant Health Solutions)
Settlement
The lab company paid $12 million to settle civil allegations that it paid kickbacks to be able to run urine samples for drug tests.
US v Taro Pharmaceuticals
Indicted
The company is the sixth one to be charged in an antitrust conspiracy that alleges they helped fix prices of generic drugs. After the indictment the company settled by paying $205 million and admitted the charge.
Melrose Park v Pipeline Health
Settlement
The California health system purchased a Melrose , Illinois , hospital along with others. They promised to keep it open but lied and shut it soon after purchase. They now paid $1.5 million to settle that. Cheap at half the price.
American Hospital Assn v US
DC
The appellate court did the right thing and overturned a lower court judge. The Circuit said it was legal for te HHS to reduce payments to hospitals under the site neutral plan. The AHA will appeal and hopefully lose again.
Patients v Lorien Health Services
To Be Filed
The Maryland organization was hacked and the information of over 45,000 patients was compromised. Another example of poor security.
Patients v U. of Utah
To Be Filed
For the third time this year the organization has been breached. This time about 10,000 people had their information put at risk. When will they learn??
OCR v Metropolitan Community
Health Services
Settlement
The company agreed to pay $25,000 and sign an integrity agreement to settle violations of HIPAA. They had no significant security in place to prevent the disclosure of patient information.
OCR v Lifespan Health Systems
Settlement
The health system agreed to pay $1 million to settle their breach of HIPAA after a laptop wss stolen and the information was not encrypted. This put over 20,000 people's information at risk.
Patients v Beaumont health
To Be filed
In typical slovenly fashion the system was phished in January. they did not complete their investigation until June 5. Another two months down the line they are finally notifying the 6000 patients of the incursion.
Nurses v Landmark Hospital
Dismissed
Four nurses had sued the Athens, Georgia, hospital of improper COVID testing. The hospital was investigated by the state and was found to be in compliance. The judge then dismissed the suit. As usual, the state did not look at all the evidence.
Schmitt v Kaiser Foundation
9th Circuit
The plaintiffs sued Kaiser for not covering hearing loss therapy except for cochlear implants. The lower court dismissed the suit for lack of specificity in the class action. the 9th agreed but is allowing the plaintiffs to amend their suit to include proxy discrimination and not ACA discrimination.
DISCLAIMER: Although this article is updated periodically, it reflects the author's point of view at the time of publication. Nothing in this article constitutes legal advice. Readers should consult with their own legal counsel before acting on any of the information presented.