From a Colorado hospital accused of using predatory billing practices to two for-profit hospital operators settling a shareholding lawsuit, here are the latest healthcare industry lawsuits and settlements making headlines.
1. Florida physician charged in $681M billing fraud scheme
A physician in Delray Beach, Fla., was arrested and charged for allegedly participating in a healthcare fraud scheme that involved billing for fraudulent tests and treatments.
2. Cuts to 340B payments are legal, appeals court rules
An HHS policy that will cut Medicare outpatient drug payments by nearly 30 percent at 340B hospitals in the U.S. is legal, an appellate court panel ruled July 31. The ruling overturns a lower court decision.
3. AHA, AAMC seek rehearing for site-neutral payment case
The American Hospital Association and the Association of American Medical Colleges plan to seek a rehearing in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for their site-neutral payment lawsuit.
4. Pipeline Health agrees to $1.5M settlement over Illinois hospital acquisition
Pipeline Health, the owner of now-closed Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park, Ill., agreed to pay $1.5 million to resolve a 2019 lawsuit in which Melrose Park claimed Pipeline acquired the 230-bed hospital under false pretenses.
5. Centura Health faces class-action suit alleging predatory billing
A man who had a knee replacement at a Centura Health hospital last year filed a class-action lawsuit against the Centennial, Colo.-based organization for what he claims are predatory billing practices.
6. Family sues Johns Hopkins, says clinicians didn't tell them newborn had cancerous cyst
A Massachusetts couple is suing Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Hospital, claiming their 2-year-old daughter died after receiving delayed cancer treatment due to clinicians' negligence.
7. Generic drug trade group loses bid to block California pay-to-delay law
A federal appeals court denied a bid by generic drug trade group Association for Accessible Medicines to block a California law banning pay-to-delay deals between drugmakers.
8. St. Luke's can sue Pennsylvania hospital accused of inflating reimbursements, court rules
Bethlehem, Pa.-based St. Luke's University Health Network can sue another Pennsylvania hospital accused of inflating its reimbursement claims under the federal Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, a federal appeals court ruled July 22.
9. CHS, Quorum to pay $18M to end shareholder lawsuit
A group of shareholders asked a federal judge July 21 for preliminary approval of an $18 million settlement in their class-action lawsuit against Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems and its spinoff Brentwood, Tenn.-based Quorum Health.
10. Former New Mexico hospital CEO sues after his management contract is terminated
David Conejo, the former CEO of Gallup, N.M.-based Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital is suing the hospital, accusing his former employer of breaching a management contract with his company and purposefully promoting false and misleading information about the company.
11. Maryland hospital sued after refusing to treat transgender man, claiming religious exemption
Baltimore-based University of Maryland Medical System and its Towson-based St. Joseph Medical Center are facing a lawsuit after canceling a hysterectomy for a transgender man.