From a California hospital filing an antitrust lawsuit against Optum to Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital seeking a retrial in a case made famous by a Netflix documentary, here are 10 hospital lawsuits, settlements and legal developments Becker's has reported since Nov. 20:
1. A former executive of Little River Healthcare — a critical access hospital in Rockdale, Texas — and three physicians agreed to pay $880,199 between them to resolve False Claims Act allegations, including alleged violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute.
2. A superior court judge ordered Alan Germany, former CFO of Health Care Conglomerate Associates, to write an apology letter and pay $150,000 in restitution as part of a plea agreement in relation to charges that included embezzlement, conflict of interest and using his official position for personal gain.
3. A lawsuit was filed against Klamath Falls, Ore.-based Sky Lakes Medical Center alleging the hospital violated charity care requirements.
4. A former University of Iowa Community HomeCare staff member and a former patient filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against UI Community HomeCare and UI Community Medical Services, part of UI Health Care, alleging the organization was negligent during a March data breach.
5. Covina, Calif.-based Emanate Health is accusing UnitedHealth Group's Optum of pressuring the system not to compete with Optum in the primary care business, and of steering patients away from their physicians who left Optum to join Emanate's practices.
6. Lawyers for St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital filed for a retrial on Nov. 22 against a $261 million verdict in a case made famous by a Netflix documentary, alleging that the jury foreman violated stringent conduct rules during the trial.
7. McLeod Health, based in Florence, S.C., agreed to a $600,000 settlement in a lawsuit brought by employees who claimed that the network deducted pay for meal breaks they were unable to take due to a heavy workload.
8. A U.S. district judge rejected West Orange, N.J.-based RWJBarnabas Health's motion to dismiss an antitrust case filed last year by CarePoint Health, which operates three safety-net hospitals that recently transitioned to nonprofit status.
9. New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health is facing a lawsuit for a data breach that affected 3.9 million people.
10. A lawsuit alleges that Los Angeles-based Prospect Medical Holdings, proprietor of Providence, R.I.-based Roger Williams Medical Center and North Providence, R.I.-based Our Lady of Fatima Hospital, neglected to fulfill payments to vendors supplying essential provisions, equipment and personnel for the two hospitals.