Litigation

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on February 1 that an owner and operator of Arbor Homecare Services LLC and a nurse employed by the home health agency were indicted for their roles in a scheme to defraud MassHealth and Medicare of at least $100 million. The Massachusetts agency allegedly routinely billed the government…

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on January 28 that athenahealth Inc., a Massachusetts-based electronic health records (EHR) technology vendor, has agreed to pay $18.25 million to resolve allegations that it paid illegal kickbacks to generate sales of its EHR product, athenaClinicals. The settlement is the government’s latest reminder that marketing initiatives that are…

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced the 14th settlement in its ongoing HIPAA Right of Access Initiative. Banner Health, a Phoenix-based health system that operates 30 hospitals and many other healthcare facilities, agreed to pay $200,000 for failing to provide patients with timely access to their medical…

On January 12, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a final rule on “Transparency and Fairness in Civil Administrative Enforcement Actions.” The rule, which was effective immediately, states that HHS can rely only on statutes and regulations in bringing civil enforcement actions. Standards set forth in agency guidance documents…

On December 21, New York State Attorney General Letitia James announced a $6 million settlement of a civil healthcare fraud lawsuit against A.R.E.B.A-Casriel, Inc. d/b/a Addiction Care Interventions Chemical Dependency Treatment Centers (ACI) and its former owner and CEO, Steven Yohay. ACI will pay $3 million and Yohay will pay an additional $3 million personally…