Litigation

On September 28, Rivkin Radler’s Jeff Kaiser will be a panelist at the Practising Law Institute’s program, Life Sciences 2022: Navigating Legal Challenges in Drug and Device Industries. The program is designed for attorneys and allied professionals who counsel pharmaceutical and life sciences companies.

Entitled “Enforcement Trends Impacting the Drug and Device Industries,” Jeff’s…

Healthcare fraud related to durable medical equipment (DME) is extremely costly to insurers, yet often continues without criminal or civil consequences. Rivkin Radler’s Michael Vanunu recently wrote an article on the topic for Law360.

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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…