From a Seattle-based health system hit with a class-action lawsuit over a data breach to a Vermont health system reaching a legal settlement with its former CEO, here are the healthcare industry lawsuits and settlements making headlines.
1. Ex-CEO agrees to settle case alleging he was 'scapegoat' for Vermont hospital's financial troubles
Springfield (Vt.) Hospital and Springfield (Vt.) Medical Care Systems entered into a settlement agreement with their former CEO to resolve a case that has been pending for roughly seven months.
2. Michigan physician charged in $120M fraud scheme involving sponsorship of UFC fighters
A physician in Michigan was charged Feb. 26 in a $120 million healthcare fraud and money laundering scheme that allegedly involved the illegal distribution of controlled substances and unnecessary injections that caused patient harm.
3. Abortion referral ban upheld by federal appeals court
A federal appeals court on Feb. 24 upheld the Trump administration's changes to Title X funding, which prohibit taxpayer-funded family planning clinics from performing or providing referrals for abortions.
4. Ex-UMMS director to serve 3 years in prison for fraud scheme
Catherine Pugh, former mayor of Baltimore and director on the board of the University of Maryland Medical System, was handed a three-year prison sentence for fraud.
5. McKesson, Cardinal, AmerisourceBergen offer legal fee settlement in opioid lawsuits
McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen offered to pay more than $1 billion in legal fees to the states, cities and counties suing them over their alleged role in fueling the opioid crisis.
6. California physician sentenced to prison over $700K in fraudulent billings
A urologist in California was sentenced to 71 months in prison Feb. 24 for submitting more than $700,000 in fraudulent billings to Medicare.
7. Supreme Court lifts injunction on 'public charge' rule in Illinois
The Supreme Court on Feb. 21 lifted an injunction on the "public charge" rule in Illinois, allowing the rule to go into effect nationwide.
8. Michigan ACO executive sentenced to prison for stealing Medicare bonus
The former CEO of Southeast Michigan Accountable Care in Dearborn was sentenced Feb. 19 to three years in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud in connection with his theft of more than $3.4 million from the ACO.
9. UW Medicine faces class-action lawsuit following data breach that affected 974,000 patients
Several patients involved in a data breach at Seattle-based UW Medicine sued the academic medical center claiming their protected health information was not properly safeguarded.
10. New York man allegedly posed as clinician, gave patients injections at illegal clinic
A medical clinic in Smithtown, N.Y., shut down after its owner was arrested and charged with posing as a medical professional and running the clinic illegally.