May 30, 2018 | Business Litigation, Employment Law
On May 21, 2018, the United States Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision in Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis, held that arbitration agreements containing class action waivers are enforceable and do not violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). This decision resolved...
May 30, 2018 | Health Care
On April 30, 2018, a federal jury in Boston convicted Dr. Rita Luthra, a gynecologist, of obstructing a criminal healthcare investigation and violating HIPAA’s criminal provisions. The government’s investigation of Dr. Luthra grew out of an earlier investigation into...
May 30, 2018 | Medicare and Medicaid
Earlier this year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it was forming an inter-agency group to review potential changes to the federal Stark (or physician self-referral) law. The Stark law generally prohibits a physician from referring...
Apr 19, 2018 | Employment Law
In an opinion issued last month, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (which covers Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee) held that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was permitted to pursue a Title VII claim on the ground that...
Apr 19, 2018 | Health Care
On April 6, 2018, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that its combined efforts with the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) resulted in $2.6 billion in recoveries for healthcare fraud and abuse enforcement...
Apr 19, 2018 | Health Care
In February’s newsletter, Chilivis Grubman reported that the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (the “Act”), signed into law by President Trump on February 9, 2018, modified the Civil Monetary Penalties Law and the Anti-Kickback Statute by increasing certain fines and...
Apr 19, 2018 | Employment Law
In 2013, Relator Billie Joe Hunt sued his former employer and others under the qui tam provisions of the federal False Claims Act (“FCA”) for alleged “rampant war-time contract fraud.” The case is captioned United States ex rel. Hunt v. Cochise Consultancy, Inc.1...
Feb 27, 2018 | Employment Law
On February 21, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States issued an opinion unanimously holding that an employee did not qualify as a whistleblower under federal rules because he did not report any violations to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) prior to...
Feb 26, 2018 | Health Care
A physician-owned hospital in Dallas, Texas recently reached an agreement with the federal government to pay $7.5 million to settle allegations that it paid kickbacks to physicians in violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and False Claims Act (FCA). The...
Feb 26, 2018 | Health Care
On February 9, 2018, President Trump signed into law the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. While this law received a lot of attention for avoiding a lengthy government shutdown and extending the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the law also affects healthcare...
