In remarks delivered on November 29 at the American Conference Institute’s 35th International Conference on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein announced that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) had revised its policy concerning individual accountability in corporate cases. That policy, previously set forth in a September 2015 memorandum issued by

Allergy Associates of Hartford, P.C. has agreed to pay $125,000 to the Office for Civil Rights as a settlement for HIPAA violations. The physician practice has also agreed to implement a two-year corrective action plan to monitor its HIPAA compliance. The Resolution Agreement is available on the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ website.

An article in Bloomberg Law’s Health Law & Business, “Allergy Practice Discloses Patient Info to Reporter, Pays $125,000,” discussed a recent HIPAA settlement arising out of a physician’s disclosure of a patient’s protected health information (PHI) to a television reporter. Rivkin Radler’s Eric Fader was quoted in the article.

The settlement was announced on November 26

Two dental care companies are the first entities to be placed on the new High Risk – Heightened Scrutiny list created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) for providers that pose a significant risk to federal healthcare programs and beneficiaries.  Each of the companies settled with the

Healthcare facilities waiting to hear back on Medicare appeals received good news on November 1, when the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to eliminate its backlog of 426,594 Medicare appeals by 2022. The order, in American Hospital Association, et al., v. Azar,

A federal district court in Illinois, in United States ex rel. Morgan v. Champion Fitness, Inc. et al., No. 1:13-cv-1593 (C.D. Ill, October 19, 2018), recently considered whether the materiality requirement set forth by the U.S. Supreme Court in Universal Health Servs., Inc. v. United States and Massachusetts, ex rel. Escobar, 136 S. Ct. 1989

On October 18, 2018, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a settlement with a California-based physician and the two companies he controlled. The FTC had alleged that Bryn Jarald Henderson, D.O., and his two companies, Regenerative Medical Group and Telehealth Medical Group, earned at least $3.3 million by offering “stem cell therapy” injections initially costing

On October 18, 2018, the New York Court of Appeals struck down a $199,000 cap on executive compensation for healthcare executives, saying the State Department of Health exceeded its authority. The Court upheld a related cap on executive compensation for healthcare organizations that receive state funding.  The case is Leading Age New York Inc. v

An October 16, 2018, article in Bloomberg Law’s Health Law & Business, “Anthem Data-Breach Settlement Sets Tone for Privacy Enforcement”, discussed Anthem, Inc.’s recent $16 million data breach settlement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The 2015 breach compromised the personal information of about 79 million people. Rivkin