News Briefs: January 8, 2024

◆ H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute Hospital Inc. in Tampa, Florida, has agreed to pay $19.564 million to settle false claims allegations over claims submitted to federal health care programs for items and services provided to patients in clinical trials that were not eligible for reimbursement from 2014 to 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said Jan. 4.^[1] The settlement stemmed from Moffitt’s self-disclosure and DOJ “acknowledged that Moffitt took a number of significant steps entitling it to credit for cooperating with the government.”

◆ Optum Medical Care of New Jersey (OMCNJ) has agreed to pay $160,000 to resolve multiple patient complaints about potential violations of the HIPAA Privacy Rule’s right of access, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) said Dec. 15.^[2] According to the resolution agreement, OCR got six complaints from people in October and November 2021 alleging that OMCNJ refused to give them a copy of either their medical records or their minor children’s medical records. OCR’s press release said “the complaints disclosed that patients received their requested records between 84 and 231 days after their respective requests were submitted.” OMCNJ didn’t admit liability in the settlement.

1 U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, “Florida Research Hospital Agrees to Pay More than $19.5 Million to Resolve Liability Relating to Self-Disclosure of Improper Billing for Clinical Trial Costs,” news release, January 4, 2024, https://bit.ly/3H5VXNA.

2 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Information Privacy, “Optum Medical Care,” December 13, 2023, https://bit.ly/4aO3Jcw.