Your prescribed dose of health law news
On August 3, North Country Neurology, P.C., a physician-owned medical practice located in Watertown, NY (the “Practice”), reached a settlement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York to pay $850,000 for submitting false Medicare claims for payment.
Among other things, the Practice admitted to having submitted 120 claims between September…
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced that Reliance Medical Systems LLC, a Utah-based distributor of spinal implant devices, two of its individual owners, and two of its physician-owned distributorships (PODs) agreed to pay $1 million to resolve a lawsuit brought under the False Claims Act. Reliance allegedly operated the PODs as a vehicle…
On July 20, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a Special Fraud Alert to caution healthcare practitioners who may wish to enter into arrangements with telehealth companies. The Alert describes several types of fraud schemes that have resulted in federal investigations and civil and/or criminal charges, particularly…
Oklahoma State University’s Center for Health Services recently paid $875,000 to settle potential HIPAA violations after a cyberattack resulted in the unauthorized access of its patients’ protected health information. A hacker installed malware on the Center’s web server which contained electronic protected health information. More than 275,000 individuals were affected by the breach, which resulted…
Rivkin Radler’s Michael Sirignano authored a recent article for the New York Law Journal entitled “The Anti-Kickback Statute’s Role in Health Insurance Fraud Cases.” The article discussed recent lawsuits against physicians, laboratories, hospitals, and a large pharmaceutical company, McKesson Corporation, under the False Claims Act and federal Anti-Kickback Statute.
On May 27, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California refused to dismiss a lawsuit[1] brought against Envision Healthcare Corp. alleging violations of California’s corporate practice of medicine (CPOM) prohibition, as well as state fee-splitting and kickback prohibitions. The action was brought by the American Academy of Emergency Medicine Physician Group…
An article published on May 16 in Part B News, “Prepare and monitor: Take extra steps when the patient’s a medical tourist,” discussed issues that U.S. medical practices can face when a patient receives medical treatment abroad. The medical tourism industry has been growing rapidly, led by a demand for cosmetic surgery…
A New York woman was sentenced last month to 78 months in prison for defrauding healthcare programs, including obtaining more than $6.5 million from Medicare Part D plans and Medicaid drug plans.
Queens resident Aleah Mohammed owned five pharmacies, four of which operated under variations of the name “Superdrugs.” Between 2015 and 2020, the pharmacies…
On April 20, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced criminal charges against 21 people across the country for COVID-19-related frauds. The defendants are accused of over $149 million in false billings to federal programs and thefts from federally funded pandemic assistance programs.
Some of the defendants, in California, New York and Maryland, allegedly obtained…
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently intervened in an action filed in Texas against two laboratory CEOs, one hospital CEO, and numerous other executives, employees, and recruiters, seeking civil penalties and treble damages for violations of the False Claims Act. The DOJ’s complaint, which was unsealed on April 4, also alleges that the fraudulent…
