A basic principle of health care law is that medical decision-making must be based on the best interests of the patient and not the economic interests of the provider. This principle is reflected the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) - which makes it a federal crime to offer, give, solicit or accept remuneration in exchange for the referral of health care services - and underlines investigations and prosecutions based on the AKS...

Rochester Drug Cooperative (RDC) recently entered into a plea with the federal government in which it admitted wrongdoing and agreed to pay $20 million in fines, receiving a prosecution deferral subject to a three-year monitoring period by an independent compliance official. Moreover, the government brought criminal charges against former CEO Laurence F. Doud III and William Pietruszewski, the former chief of compliance. Pietruszewski has reportedly entered a plea and is...

According to a report by the Michigan Pharmacists Association and 3 Axis Advisors, Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) overcharged the state’s Medicaid Program by at least $64 million through spread pricing. The report collected data from 451 community pharmacies across Michigan, representing nearly 20% of the 2,356 retail/community pharmacies in the state to analyze PBM spread pricing – the difference between what a PBM pays a pharmacy for a medication and...

Frier Levitt, LLC, a national boutique healthcare law firm, announced today that Joel M. Greenberg, Esq., has joined the firm as a Partner. Mr. Greenberg has extensive experience assisting physicians, medical groups, dentists, and other health care providers address the numerous business and legal issues that arise in their practices. He counsels clients in all aspects of a transaction from the initial phase of setting up an entity to establishing...

Back on October 22, 2018, the state of Arkansas filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking them to review the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit’s decision, specifically asking the Supreme Court to consider "[w]hether the Eighth Circuit erred in holding that Arkansas's statute . . . is preempted by ERISA[.]" Most recently, on April 15, 2019, the Supreme Court invited...