Indiana sheriff fighting ex-inmate’s $1.8M hospital bill
An Indiana sheriff says he'll fight a $1.8 million bill for a former jail inmate's four-month hospital stay.
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HHS to reconsider reimbursement of loan to Randolph Co. hospital
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services must revisit the issue of reimbursement of a refinanced loan made to a Randolph County hospital after the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals determined the federal agency failed to adequately explain why it rejected reimbursement that loan.
Big Pharma’s tobacco moment as star lawyers push opioid suits
Big Pharma is having a Big Tobacco moment as litigation over opioids attract star lawyers and a growing list of states and local governments seeking their own multibillion-dollar payout to deal with costs of a burgeoning drug epidemic.
Indiana county bars funding for needle exchange program
Officials in a central Indiana county have effectively ended its needle exchange program by cutting off funding for the two-year-old program.
15 in Indiana face Medicaid fraud indictments topping $1M
Fifteen people around Indiana have been indicted on Medicaid fraud-related charges, Attorney General Curtis Hill’s office announced Thursday, as part of a national crackdown involving state and federal agencies. The indictments alleged more than $1 million in fraud to Medicaid resulting from illegal activities from false billing and prescription abuses to money laundering.
Sessions said to target opioid care in crackdown on fraud
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is poised to announce a major law enforcement action this week targeting health-care fraud, focusing on opioid treatment programs exploiting Obamacare insurance plans, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Updated law provides more protection for abandoned medical records
Indiana already had a statute covering abandoned medical records, but Senate Enrolled Act 549, which sailed through the Statehouse during the 2017 session, updated the law. The new provisions expanded the definition of “abandoned,” added language requiring database owners to safeguard the medical information stored in their systems, and gave the Indiana Attorney General the power to recover the costs of protecting the discarded health records.
Taft: Data breach tips and recovery plans for health care
Here are some brief tips about preventing and dealing with cyberattacks from Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness & Response materials for those entities that operate in the health care field.
Kiefer: Health care fraud enforcement still top priority under Trump
Despite election rhetoric that led many to believe that Donald Trump, if elected, would reduce enforcement of criminal laws against U.S. corporations and business executives, President Trump has instead ratcheted up the enforcement of laws involving health care fraud.
7th Circuit: Nightingale must defend Medicare restitution claims
A Carmel-based home health care company stripped of its certification to receive Medicare funding in Indiana will return to the district court in Indianapolis to defend against government claims seeking nearly $5 million in restitution.
Pharmacy boss blamed for meningitis outbreak gets 9 years
The co-owner of a pharmacy responsible for the deaths of 76 people was sentenced Monday to nine years in prison after he tearfully apologized to victims who described watching their loved ones die or enduring excruciating physical pain from a 2012 nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak caused by contaminated steroids.
Anthem agrees to $115M settlement over data breach
Anthem Inc. has agreed to pay $115 million to resolve consumer claims over a 2015 cyber-attack that compromised data on 78.8 million people, marking what attorneys in the case called the largest data-breach settlement in history.
COA remands dispute over attorney fees owed to doctor
A cardiologist who was denied his request for attorney fees totaling $450,000 will get a second chance to make his argument after the Indiana Court of Appeals found the trial court abused its discretion in awarding nearly $423,000 less.
Justices side with religious hospitals in pension dispute
Religious hospitals don't have to comply with federal laws protecting pension plans, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday in a case that affects retirement benefits for roughly a million workers nationwide.
Potential death of Affordable Care Act likely to cut taxes
The American Health Care Act, which seeks to repeal and replace the ACA, passed the House on a party-line vote but has not gained much traction in the Senate. In fact, the upper chamber is crafting its own repeal-and-replace legislation that could differ widely from the House proposal.
Judge dismisses claims against hospital in discovery dispute
A federal judge has dismissed a man’s claims in a complaint accusing the Indiana Supreme Court, a hospital and the chair of a medical review panel of violating his due process rights. The judge found that federal precedent and a failure to state a claim barred the man’s claims against the hospital.
Jury acquits Indianapolis doctor charged in patients’ deaths
A former Indianapolis doctor has been found not guilty of all charges in the deaths of three people whom prosecutors said overdosed on painkillers that he prescribed.
Fraud, forgery trial delayed for Muncie pain clinic doctor
The trial has been delayed for a Muncie pain clinic doctor accused of fraud, forgery and drug counts.
J&J loses $110M verdict over talc cancer-link claim
Johnson & Johnson was ordered by a St. Louis jury to pay more than $110 million to a Virginia woman who blamed her ovarian cancer on the company’s talcum products.
IU Health, HealthNet to pay $18M to settle false-claims case
Indiana University Health and HealthNet Inc. have agreed to pay a total of $18 million to resolve a whistleblower lawsuit alleging they submitted claims to the government in violation of anti-kickback laws. Federal and state authorities announced the settlement agreement Thursday afternoon.