A Virginia hospital is facing federal criminal charges over what prosecutors say was an extended scheme to profit from a high-billing doctor's troubling practices, including dozens of medically unnecessary surgeries performed on unsuspecting women, which left some of them sterile.
An indictment filed Wednesday in federal district court in Norfolk charges the hospital, Chesapeake Regional Healthcare, with healthcare fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States. The hospital collected about $18.5 million in reimbursements from private insurers, Medicare and Medicaid for questionable procedures performed between 2010 and 2019 by Javaid Perwaiz, prosecutors say. The obstetrician-gynecologist was sentenced to 59 years in prison for abusing female patients with unnecessary surgeries to enrich himself with insurance payouts.
In a statement Wednesday, the hospital called the allegations from federal prosecutors "unfounded and an excessive overreach." "Chesapeake Regional is dedicated to patient safety, prioritizing high-quality care that meets rigorous national standards," it said.
Seven UnitedHealth Group shareholders are calling on the health care conglomerate to produce a report on how often its policies lead to denied or delayed care, and the effects on patients and the economy. The proposal, which could go up for a vote by UnitedHealth's investors at the company's annual meeting later this year, comes as the company is under tremendous public scrutiny for tactics such as prior authorization and care denials. The killing of the CEO of UnitedHealth's health insurance business in early December ignited a firestorm of anger — not against the alleged killer, but against health insurers like UnitedHealth who many blame for the industry's dysfunction.
A potential strike between nurses and the University of Michigan Health-Sparrow system fits a post-pandemic pattern of nurses asking for more, which may now be a recurring feature of healthcare, a Wayne State University expert said. Ramona Benkert, Wayne State's nursing dean, said the pandemic played a major role in reshaping how nurses view themselves in the healthcare sector, highlighting their value while more is being asked of them.
Rochester Regional Health is working to cut its spending by temporarily closing hospital beds due to the latest result of a nursing shortage in the healthcare system. RGH President Tammy Snyder says recruitment went well in 2024. Now, hospital leaders are looking at what they can do to attract and retain nurses while cutting down on spending. That includes reducing how much the hospital spends on agency nurses. Snyder says every agency RN gets offered permanent employment or another opportunity at the hospital. Outside of that, RGH is working to attract the next generation of nurses. "We also are partnering with our local nursing schools. Those nursing students come to RGH as a part of their nursing training," said Snyder. "We wanna make sure that they have a fantastic experience with us so that they choose RGH as their employer after graduation."
Four months after the Nashoba Valley Medical Center in North Central Massachusetts shuttered, emergency medical services in the surrounding communities are "on the verge of collapse," 13 local fire chiefs wrote in a recent letter to the state. The letter, sent Dec. 27 from the chiefs, their towns' leaders, and state lawmakers, urged Governor Maura Healey's administration to include in the state's budget proposals $9.6 million over the next two fiscal years to increase emergency response staffing and sustain overtime pay. The increasingly dire situation described in the letter highlights the continuing impact of the bankruptcy of Steward Health Care, the for-profit company that closed both the Nashoba Valley hospital in Ayer and Carney Hospital in Dorchester on Aug. 31, while in the process of selling its other Massachusetts hospitals to new operators.