August 14, 2024
In response to a Connecticut federal judge's stern demand for quicker progress, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has said in a court filing that it should be able to implement a new rule creating an avenue for Medicare beneficiaries to appeal their hospitalization status by Jan. 1.
July 17, 2024
The Department of Health and Human Services appears not to be in "reasonable compliance" of an injunction ordering it to develop an avenue for Medicare beneficiaries to appeal their hospitalization status, a Connecticut federal judge said in a Tuesday notice.
August 10, 2023
A federal judge in Connecticut has ordered the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to submit a notice of proposed Medicare billing rule changes to the Office of Management and Budget by Oct. 1 after the agency stalled for more than three years despite a court order in a tumultuous class action lawsuit.
February 01, 2023
A federal judge has declined to award $1.3 million to attorneys who fought for more than 10 years to win a complex Medicare class action reimbursement dispute against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
January 31, 2019
It's hospitals that make the call to admit patients as either under observation or inpatient, so Medicare beneficiaries can't sue the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services when they're given the more expensive option, the agency told a Connecticut federal court.
October 17, 2017
A Connecticut federal judge on Monday expanded the definition of a nationwide class of Medicare patients alleging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services fleeced them on hospital care by placing them on outpatient "observation," which is subject to lower reimbursement rates than inpatient care, to include those who were notified of their status.
July 31, 2017
A Connecticut federal judge certified a nationwide class of certain Medicare beneficiaries Monday in a six-year-old suit between health care advocates and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services focused on whether patients can appeal being put on "observation."
February 08, 2017
A Connecticut federal judge declined Wednesday to dismiss class allegations against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, finding that Medicare patients claiming an agency policy forced them to overpay for hospital care sufficiently showed they were denied their constitutional right to due process.
June 17, 2016
Health Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell on Thursday told a Connecticut federal court to dismiss a putative class action brought by Medicare patients who claim they were denied their constitutional right to due process by being placed under observation while hospitals considered whether to admit them.
September 24, 2013
A Connecticut federal judge Monday tossed a proposed class action against health secretary Kathleen Sebelius over the controversial "observation" status some Medicare patients claimed resulted in them having to pay tens of thousands more for certain post-hospitalization care than they would have if they had been classified as inpatients.