On October 2, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Phamatech, Inc. and its CEO have agreed to pay $3,043,484 to settle alleged False Claims Act (FCA) allegations. San Diego-based Phamatech, a medical technology company that manufactures diagnostic devices and provides laboratory testing, allegedly submitted false claims to Medicare for drug-testing services.

In addition

Health insurer Anthem, Inc. has finally reached a settlement with a coalition of 41 states plus the District of Columbia, and a separate settlement with California, to resolve state attorney general investigations of a data breach that occurred in 2014. Anthem has agreed to pay the states a total monetary penalty of $48.2 million.

The

On September 23, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, Inc. agreed to pay $97 million to resolve claims that it illegally used a foundation as a conduit to pay the copays of thousands of Medicare patients taking Gilead’s pulmonary arterial hypertension drug Letairis. In addition to the False Claims Act

The third HIPAA settlement to be announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services within one week was a big one. On September 25, HHS announced that Premera Blue Cross agreed to pay $6.85 million to HHS’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) to settle HIPAA violations arising out of a data breach that

On September 21, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced a $1.5 million agreement with Athens Orthopedic Clinic PA to settle “longstanding, systemic noncompliance” with the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules. OCR’s investigation was triggered by a 2016 data breach that affected more than 200,000 of Athens Orthopedic’s patients.

On September 15, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced five new settlements relating to enforcement of HIPAA’s right of access rule. Under HIPAA, patients have the right to timely access to their medical records, as recently discussed here.

A HIPAA covered entity must respond to a patient’s

In United States ex rel. Cimznhca, LLC v. UCB, Inc., the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals weighed in on a Circuit Court of Appeals dispute over the correct standard to apply to the government’s decision to dismiss a qui tam lawsuit under the False Claims Act (FCA). The authority of the government to dismiss an action,

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on August 27 that New Jersey-based Konica Minolta Healthcare Americas Inc. agreed to pay $500,000 to resolve allegations that its former subsidiary, Viztek LLC, misrepresented the capabilities of its electronic health records (EHR) software, which caused users of the software to file false claims with the federal government.

Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. is in the crosshairs of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on two separate matters. On August 18, the DOJ announced that it filed a lawsuit against Teva and an affiliate, Teva Neuroscience Inc., under the False Claims Act for violations of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. The suit alleges that the

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York has blocked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from enforcing a new rule that limited sex discrimination in healthcare to discrimination based on gender as determined by biology. The rule, discussed in detail here in June, did not recognize sexual orientation