Healthcare Law Briefs
1. U.S. Supreme Court Denies Review
of Federal Appeals Court HIPAA Ruling
The U.S. Supreme Court
denied review Nov. 3 of a petition that challenged a federal appeals
court ruling that upheld privacy regulations issued by the Department of
Health and Human Services under the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act (South Carolina Medical Association v. Thompson,
U.S., No. 03-114, review denied 11/3/03). The high court action leaves
standing a federal appeals court decision that found Congress did not
impermissibly delegate its legislative authority in authorizing the
agency to issue the regulations designed to protect the privacy of
patient medical records and other health information. Copyright BNA
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2. Federal Court Allows Retaliation
Claim by Physician Whistleblower
An emergency room
physician, whose employment with a hospital and physician practice group
was terminated after he contacted state officials concerning possible
Medicare and Medicaid fraud, may pursue retaliatory discharge claims, a
federal court ruled Oct. 29 (Chomer v. Logansport Memorial Hospital,
S.D. Ind., No. 1:03-CV-0733, 10/29/03).
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3. Government Collects Record $2.1
Billion in False Claims Act Recoveries in FY 2003
The government
collected a record $2.1 billion in fraud recoveries as a result of
settlements and prosecutions under the False Claims Act in fiscal year
2003, a 75 percent increase over 2002 collections, the Department of
Justice announced Nov. 10. The 2003 recoveries bring to $12 billion the
total FCA recoveries the government has logged since Congress
strengthened the False Claims Act in 1986, DOJ said.
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4. Federal Judge Orders Rx Depot
Shuttered
Rx Depot, a Tulsa,
Oklahoma - based company that helps U.S. residents purchase cheaper
prescription drugs from Canada, must shut its doors immediately, a
federal judge in Oklahoma ruled Nov. 6 (U.S. v. Rx Depot Inc.,
N.D. Okla., No. 03-CV-616, 11/6/03). In her decision to grant a
preliminary injunction against the company, Judge Claire V. Eagan of the
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma said that Rx
Depot--which acts as a conduit between Canadian pharmacies and U.S.
residents -- "openly and notoriously violated the law" by causing the
importation of prescription drugs, and said that its "practices expose
the public health to risk."
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5. Final Phase II Stark Regulation
Sent to Office of Management and Budget
The Centers of
Medicare & Medicaid Services has sent the final phase II physician
self-referral regulations to the Office of Management and Budget for
review, according to an Oct. 28 Office of Information and Regulatory
Affairs posting on the OMB Web site.
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>For more information about the
topics presented in this newsletter please contact one of the
Healthcare
Attorneys:
>Read
the September 2003 issue of our HEALTHCARE
NEWSLETTER.
 Tucker Arensberg,
P.C.
1500 One PPG
Place Pittsburgh, PA 15222 412/566-1212
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