The HHS’ Inspector General has announced that an administrative law judge upheld its earlier exclusion from federal health programs of three former corporate executives with Purdue Frederick, the manufacturer of painkiller OxyContin. Read more...  

A New Orleans psychiatrist was sentenced to more than seven years in prison for her role in a healthcare fraud scheme, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Read more...  

The owners and operators of two Miami medical clinics, and a phlebotomist at one of the clinics, have pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to submit approximately $5.3 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare, according to the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Read more...  

During fiscal 2007, the federal government won or negotiated approximately $1.8 billion in judgments and settlements in healthcare fraud cases and proceedings, according to the annual report of the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program (HCFAC). Read more...  

Melissa Szabad, an associate in the healthcare department of law firm McGuireWoods, has been elevated to partner. Read more...  

Bayer Healthcare has agreed to pay the federal government $97.5 million plus interest to settle allegations that it paid kickbacks to 11 diabetic suppliers and caused those suppliers to submit false claims to Medicare, according to a U.S. Justice Department announcement. Read more...  

Alcon, the world’s largest researcher and developer of eye care products, is suing Synergetics USA, claiming it has infringed Alcon’s patent on an ophthalmic laser surgical device. Read more...  

CMS has announced it is consolidating its efforts with new program-integrity contractors that will look at billing trends and patterns across Medicare. These contractors will focus on companies and individuals whose billings for Medicare services are higher than the majority of providers and suppliers in the community. Read more...  

Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center in Charleston, Ill. has been ordered by a jury to pay a patient $2.3 million following a lawsuit in which a patient alleged that an unncessary procedure performed by a nurse caused the need for numerous surgeries and an artificial sphincter, according to the Journal Gazette & Times-Courier. Read more...