From the Justice Department suing UnitedHealth Group over a proposed acquisition to an Indiana health system accusing Humana of withholding reimbursements, here are 12 healthcare industry lawsuits, settlements and legal developments that Becker's has reported since Nov. 6:
1. Aurora, Colo.-based UCHealth agreed to pay $23 million to resolve alleged False Claims Act violations involving improperly coded emergency department claims billed to TRICARE and Medicare.
2. A wrongful death lawsuit was filed in the fatal July 2023 shooting at Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland, Ore.
3. Johnson & Johnson is asking a federal judge to declare its 340B rebate plan legal and prevent HHS and the Health Resources and Services Administration from taking any enforcement action against its implementation.
4. Ohio Auditor of State Keith Faber's office issued a report finding insufficient evidence to justify a criminal referral of Akram Boutros, MD, former CEO of Cleveland-based MetroHealth, in a case involving allegations that he received unauthorized bonus payments.
5. The U.S. Justice Department is suing UnitedHealth Group over its planned purchase of home health company Amedisys for $3.3 billion.
6. Indianapolis-based Community Health Network is suing Humana for allegedly failing to reimburse it for 340B drugs provided to the payer's members.
7. A judge found the board for Memphis, Mo.-based Scotland County Hospital guilty of violating the state's open meetings and records law, commonly referred to as the Sunshine Law, when it held two emergency closed meetings.
8. A federal jury ordered Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan to pay nearly $13 million in damages to a former employee who said she was wrongfully terminated for refusing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
9. A New York City judge dismissed a lawsuit over the 2023 firing of One Brooklyn Health CEO LaRay Brown.
10. A third physician in Texas is facing legal action over a state law that restricts medical providers from providing gender transition-related care to minors.
11. Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare's CEO and other executives are scheduled to be deposed in connection with a whistleblower lawsuit filed by two women who were contracted as housekeepers at Detroit's Harper University Hospital and Hutzel Women's Hospital.
12. St. Louis-based Ascension agreed to provide back pay to staff as part of a revamped COVID-19 vaccine settlement approved by a federal judge in Michigan.