California
Kaiser affiliates will pay $556 million to settle a lawsuit alleging Medicare fraud
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Kaiser Permanente affiliates will pay $556 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged the health care giant committed Medicare fraud and pressured doctors to list incorrect diagnoses on medical records to receive higher reimbursements, federal prosecutors said.
The deal announced Wednesday came more than four years after the U.S. Department of Justice filed the legal claim in San Francisco that consolidated allegations made in six whistleblower complaints.
The affiliates in the settlement include the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan; Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Colorado; The Permanente Medical Group; Southern California Permanente Medical Group; and Colorado Permanente Medical Group P.C.
Kaiser, based in Oakland, California, is a consortium of entities that together form one of the largest nonprofit health care plans in the U.S. with more than 12 million members and dozens of medical centers.
The lawsuit alleged that Kaiser entities gamed the Medicare Advantage Plan system, also known as the Medicare Part C program, which gives beneficiaries the option of enrolling in managed care insurance plans.
Prosecutors contended that Kaiser “pressured its physicians to create addenda to medical records,” often months or more than a year after an initial consultation with an enrollee, because more severe diagnoses for beneficiaries generally result in larger payments to the plan.
“More than half of our nation’s Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, and the government expects those who participate in the program to provide truthful and accurate information,” Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate said in a statement Wednesday.
Kaiser said the settlement includes no admission of wrongdoing or liability. The company said it chose to settle to avoid “the delay, uncertainty, and cost” of a trial.
“Multiple major health plans have faced similar government scrutiny over Medicare Advantage risk adjustment standards and practices, reflecting industrywide challenges in applying these requirements,” Kaiser said in a statement Wednesday. “The Kaiser Permanente case was not about the quality of care our members received. It involved a dispute about how to interpret the Medicare risk adjustment program’s documentation requirements.”
Ohio
83-year-old man convicted of killing Uber driver who he wrongly thought was scamming him
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (AP) — A jury convicted an 83-year-old Ohio man of murder in the shooting of an Uber driver who he wrongly thought was trying to rob him after scam phone calls deceived them both.
William J. Brock fatally shot the driver after wrongly assuming she was in on a plot to get $12,000 in supposed bond money for a relative, authorities said.
The driver fell victim to the same scammer, driving to Brock’s home between Dayton and Columbus to pick up a package for delivery, according to investigators.
Brock shot the driver, 61-year-old Lo-Letha Toland-Hall of Dublin, a Columbus suburb, six times when she showed up at his home in March 2024, authorities said.
Brock, of South Charleston, was convicted of murder, felonious assault and kidnapping Wednesday. He is scheduled to be sentenced next week. A message seeking comment was left with his attorney.
Brock’s attorney said the shooting was in self-defense and the scammer had made threats against him and his family. Brock testified during the trial that he felt threatened when the driver arrived at his house.
But prosecutors said Hall was unarmed and posed no threat when Brock shot her. Investigators said the driver was unaware of the scam call that Brock had received with threats and demands for money.
Clark County Prosecutor Daniel Driscoll told reporters after the verdict that both families lost loved ones because of the scam.
“The really sad part about this is that we know there are still criminals out there,” he said. “We know that the scammers, the folks who started this, haven’t been brought to justice.”
Tennessee
Judge denies injunction for college football players seeking to play a 5th year
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal judge denied a request Thursday for a preliminary injunction by five college football players seeking to play a fifth season this fall.
U.S. District Judge William L. Campbell wrote that the players did not make the case that they likely would succeed on their claim that the NCAA violates U.S. antitrust laws with its redshirt rule that restricts athletes to four seasons over five years.
“Accordingly, the motion for Preliminary Injunction ... is DENIED,” Campbell wrote in the 20-page ruling.
Four of the five players testified in a Dec. 15 hearing that coaches wanted them back but would turn to the transfer portal for experienced replacements they can’t return.
All five have competed four seasons in four years without taking a redshirt year. They are: Vanderbilt linebacker Langston Patterson; kicker Nathanial Vakos, tight end Lance Mason and long snapper Nick Levy, all of Wisconsin; and Nebraska long snapper Kevin Gallic.
Attorney Ryan Downton said in a statement his clients are disappointed they are unlikely to play next season.
“We understand why the Court did not want to require such a major rule change on a limited judicial record,” Downton said. “We remain confident the NCAA has no legitimate reason to make athletes sit out most (or all) of one of their five seasons of eligibility.”
The players are part of a lawsuit seeking class-action status. The case includes seven other named plaintiffs and potentially thousands of current and former NCAA football, baseball and tennis players.
Campbell also granted the injunction that allowed Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia to play the 2025 season. Pavia had to go to court to get another year because he started his career at a junior college.
Coaches from the Football Bowl Subdivision voted unanimously Tuesday at the American Football Coaches Association to ask the NCAA to increase the limit for games played in a redshirt season from four games to nine, not counting the postseason.
Downton noted the move toward allowing players to play more games and still redshirt.
“Five for five is coming,” Downton said. “The only question is whether the NCAA adapts voluntarily, or has its rule struck down after trial as the Court today emphatically rejected the NCAA’s argument that its eligibility rules are above the law.”
California
Judge dismisses Trump lawsuit seeking detailed voter information
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit against California that sought detailed voting records and personal data on its 23 million registered voters, concluding that the government’s request was “unprecedented and illegal.”
The Trump administration’s lawsuit, filed last year, contended that California and other states were illegally blocking the federal government’s wide-ranging effort to scrutinize detailed voter data that states said was private and protected.
The administration “may not unilaterally usurp the authority over elections” U.S. District Judge David O. Carter in Santa Ana said in his 33-page decision.
Furthermore, the attempt to gather and centralize the personal information would have a chilling effect on voter registration and threaten “the right to vote which is the cornerstone of American democracy,” the judge ruled.
“There cannot be unbridled consolidation of all elections power in the executive (branch) without action from Congress,” Carter said. “This is antithetical to the promise of fair and free elections.”
It has accused states of failing to respond sufficiently to questions about the procedures they take to maintain voter rolls. The department has sued 23 states, most of them controlled by Democrats, and the District of Columbia for detailed voter data that includes names, dates of birth, residential addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.
State election officials have questioned what the DOJ plans to do with that information. Last fall 10 Democratic secretaries of state wrote Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to express concern over reports that the DOJ was sharing state voter data with the Department of Homeland Security.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is part of DHS, operates a program that checks citizenship status.
Washington
Trump administration restores federal funding for family planning after ACLU lawsuit
Reproductive rights advocates say they have dropped a legal challenge against the Trump administration for withholding millions of dollars of federal funding for family planning, contraception and other services after officials agreed to restore the money.
Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services after federal officials alerted 16 organizations, including Planned Parenthood affiliates, that the department was pausing $27.5 million to investigate whether they’re complying with the law.
At the time, HHS didn’t specify which laws or executive orders the groups were suspected of violating. However, in a Dec. 19 letter to the organizations, HHS officials cited “federal civil rights laws” and that the groups had taken actions to show they were in compliance.
The letter reminded the organizations of their “ongoing obligation to comply with all terms of the award, including by not engaging in any unlawful diversity, equity or inclusion-related discrimination in violation of such laws.”
The ACLU then filed to voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit on Jan. 13.
“We should never have had to sue to protect essential health care like cancer screenings, STI tests, and birth control,” said Arthur Spitzer, senior counsel at the ACLU of the District of Columbia. “Restoring funding is a victory, but the larger fight to protect everyone’s reproductive freedom continues.”
An email seeking comment to HHS was sent on Wednesday.
Since taking office, Trump has issued executive orders targeting programs that consider race in any way, some of which have been put on hold by judges.
Republicans have long railed against the hundreds millions of dollars that flow every year under the Title X program to Planned Parenthood and its clinics, which offer abortions but also birth control, cancer and disease screenings, among other things. The program provides services mainly to low-income women, many of them from minority communities. Federal law prohibits taxpayer dollars from paying for most abortions.
According to the ACLU, when HHS withheld 22 federal Title X grants last spring, 865 family planning service sites were unable to provide services to an estimated 842,000 patients across nearly two dozen states.
Brigitte Amiri, deputy director of the Reproductive Freedom Project at the ACLU, said in a statement that while funding has been restored, “we know that the Trump administration will continue to attack reproductive freedom, and the ACLU will be ready to use every lever we have to fight those attacks and defend the Title X program.”
Kaiser affiliates will pay $556 million to settle a lawsuit alleging Medicare fraud
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Kaiser Permanente affiliates will pay $556 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged the health care giant committed Medicare fraud and pressured doctors to list incorrect diagnoses on medical records to receive higher reimbursements, federal prosecutors said.
The deal announced Wednesday came more than four years after the U.S. Department of Justice filed the legal claim in San Francisco that consolidated allegations made in six whistleblower complaints.
The affiliates in the settlement include the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan; Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Colorado; The Permanente Medical Group; Southern California Permanente Medical Group; and Colorado Permanente Medical Group P.C.
Kaiser, based in Oakland, California, is a consortium of entities that together form one of the largest nonprofit health care plans in the U.S. with more than 12 million members and dozens of medical centers.
The lawsuit alleged that Kaiser entities gamed the Medicare Advantage Plan system, also known as the Medicare Part C program, which gives beneficiaries the option of enrolling in managed care insurance plans.
Prosecutors contended that Kaiser “pressured its physicians to create addenda to medical records,” often months or more than a year after an initial consultation with an enrollee, because more severe diagnoses for beneficiaries generally result in larger payments to the plan.
“More than half of our nation’s Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, and the government expects those who participate in the program to provide truthful and accurate information,” Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate said in a statement Wednesday.
Kaiser said the settlement includes no admission of wrongdoing or liability. The company said it chose to settle to avoid “the delay, uncertainty, and cost” of a trial.
“Multiple major health plans have faced similar government scrutiny over Medicare Advantage risk adjustment standards and practices, reflecting industrywide challenges in applying these requirements,” Kaiser said in a statement Wednesday. “The Kaiser Permanente case was not about the quality of care our members received. It involved a dispute about how to interpret the Medicare risk adjustment program’s documentation requirements.”
Ohio
83-year-old man convicted of killing Uber driver who he wrongly thought was scamming him
SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (AP) — A jury convicted an 83-year-old Ohio man of murder in the shooting of an Uber driver who he wrongly thought was trying to rob him after scam phone calls deceived them both.
William J. Brock fatally shot the driver after wrongly assuming she was in on a plot to get $12,000 in supposed bond money for a relative, authorities said.
The driver fell victim to the same scammer, driving to Brock’s home between Dayton and Columbus to pick up a package for delivery, according to investigators.
Brock shot the driver, 61-year-old Lo-Letha Toland-Hall of Dublin, a Columbus suburb, six times when she showed up at his home in March 2024, authorities said.
Brock, of South Charleston, was convicted of murder, felonious assault and kidnapping Wednesday. He is scheduled to be sentenced next week. A message seeking comment was left with his attorney.
Brock’s attorney said the shooting was in self-defense and the scammer had made threats against him and his family. Brock testified during the trial that he felt threatened when the driver arrived at his house.
But prosecutors said Hall was unarmed and posed no threat when Brock shot her. Investigators said the driver was unaware of the scam call that Brock had received with threats and demands for money.
Clark County Prosecutor Daniel Driscoll told reporters after the verdict that both families lost loved ones because of the scam.
“The really sad part about this is that we know there are still criminals out there,” he said. “We know that the scammers, the folks who started this, haven’t been brought to justice.”
Tennessee
Judge denies injunction for college football players seeking to play a 5th year
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal judge denied a request Thursday for a preliminary injunction by five college football players seeking to play a fifth season this fall.
U.S. District Judge William L. Campbell wrote that the players did not make the case that they likely would succeed on their claim that the NCAA violates U.S. antitrust laws with its redshirt rule that restricts athletes to four seasons over five years.
“Accordingly, the motion for Preliminary Injunction ... is DENIED,” Campbell wrote in the 20-page ruling.
Four of the five players testified in a Dec. 15 hearing that coaches wanted them back but would turn to the transfer portal for experienced replacements they can’t return.
All five have competed four seasons in four years without taking a redshirt year. They are: Vanderbilt linebacker Langston Patterson; kicker Nathanial Vakos, tight end Lance Mason and long snapper Nick Levy, all of Wisconsin; and Nebraska long snapper Kevin Gallic.
Attorney Ryan Downton said in a statement his clients are disappointed they are unlikely to play next season.
“We understand why the Court did not want to require such a major rule change on a limited judicial record,” Downton said. “We remain confident the NCAA has no legitimate reason to make athletes sit out most (or all) of one of their five seasons of eligibility.”
The players are part of a lawsuit seeking class-action status. The case includes seven other named plaintiffs and potentially thousands of current and former NCAA football, baseball and tennis players.
Campbell also granted the injunction that allowed Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia to play the 2025 season. Pavia had to go to court to get another year because he started his career at a junior college.
Coaches from the Football Bowl Subdivision voted unanimously Tuesday at the American Football Coaches Association to ask the NCAA to increase the limit for games played in a redshirt season from four games to nine, not counting the postseason.
Downton noted the move toward allowing players to play more games and still redshirt.
“Five for five is coming,” Downton said. “The only question is whether the NCAA adapts voluntarily, or has its rule struck down after trial as the Court today emphatically rejected the NCAA’s argument that its eligibility rules are above the law.”
California
Judge dismisses Trump lawsuit seeking detailed voter information
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit against California that sought detailed voting records and personal data on its 23 million registered voters, concluding that the government’s request was “unprecedented and illegal.”
The Trump administration’s lawsuit, filed last year, contended that California and other states were illegally blocking the federal government’s wide-ranging effort to scrutinize detailed voter data that states said was private and protected.
The administration “may not unilaterally usurp the authority over elections” U.S. District Judge David O. Carter in Santa Ana said in his 33-page decision.
Furthermore, the attempt to gather and centralize the personal information would have a chilling effect on voter registration and threaten “the right to vote which is the cornerstone of American democracy,” the judge ruled.
“There cannot be unbridled consolidation of all elections power in the executive (branch) without action from Congress,” Carter said. “This is antithetical to the promise of fair and free elections.”
It has accused states of failing to respond sufficiently to questions about the procedures they take to maintain voter rolls. The department has sued 23 states, most of them controlled by Democrats, and the District of Columbia for detailed voter data that includes names, dates of birth, residential addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.
State election officials have questioned what the DOJ plans to do with that information. Last fall 10 Democratic secretaries of state wrote Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to express concern over reports that the DOJ was sharing state voter data with the Department of Homeland Security.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is part of DHS, operates a program that checks citizenship status.
Washington
Trump administration restores federal funding for family planning after ACLU lawsuit
Reproductive rights advocates say they have dropped a legal challenge against the Trump administration for withholding millions of dollars of federal funding for family planning, contraception and other services after officials agreed to restore the money.
Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services after federal officials alerted 16 organizations, including Planned Parenthood affiliates, that the department was pausing $27.5 million to investigate whether they’re complying with the law.
At the time, HHS didn’t specify which laws or executive orders the groups were suspected of violating. However, in a Dec. 19 letter to the organizations, HHS officials cited “federal civil rights laws” and that the groups had taken actions to show they were in compliance.
The letter reminded the organizations of their “ongoing obligation to comply with all terms of the award, including by not engaging in any unlawful diversity, equity or inclusion-related discrimination in violation of such laws.”
The ACLU then filed to voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit on Jan. 13.
“We should never have had to sue to protect essential health care like cancer screenings, STI tests, and birth control,” said Arthur Spitzer, senior counsel at the ACLU of the District of Columbia. “Restoring funding is a victory, but the larger fight to protect everyone’s reproductive freedom continues.”
An email seeking comment to HHS was sent on Wednesday.
Since taking office, Trump has issued executive orders targeting programs that consider race in any way, some of which have been put on hold by judges.
Republicans have long railed against the hundreds millions of dollars that flow every year under the Title X program to Planned Parenthood and its clinics, which offer abortions but also birth control, cancer and disease screenings, among other things. The program provides services mainly to low-income women, many of them from minority communities. Federal law prohibits taxpayer dollars from paying for most abortions.
According to the ACLU, when HHS withheld 22 federal Title X grants last spring, 865 family planning service sites were unable to provide services to an estimated 842,000 patients across nearly two dozen states.
Brigitte Amiri, deputy director of the Reproductive Freedom Project at the ACLU, said in a statement that while funding has been restored, “we know that the Trump administration will continue to attack reproductive freedom, and the ACLU will be ready to use every lever we have to fight those attacks and defend the Title X program.”
