Becker's reported on two lawsuits related to orthopedics in the last 30 days:
1. Orthopedic surgeon Greg Hardin, MD, is suing Mishawaka-based Franciscan Alliance, alleging the health system directed patients away from his practice, Inside Indiana Business reported June 24. Dr. Hardin, owner of Indianapolis-based Center for Orthopaedic Surgery & Sports Medicine, filed his lawsuit in Indiana Commercial Court this month, claiming breach of fiduciary duties, dereliction and waste, intentional interference and breach of contract, the report said. He alleges that he and Franciscan Alliance were equal partners in South Indy MRI & Rehab Services and South Emerson Surgery Center. However, he claims the health system refused to pay its share of operating expenses and prematurely ended his practice's office lease "with full knowledge that …the magnetic resonance imaging machine is leased at the office through December 31, 2024."
2. Wilmington, Del.-based Center for Interventional Pain and Spine, a medical group with 11 offices in Delaware, Maryland and Pennsylvania, has been accused of billing the government for unnecessary patient testing, according to a June 26 report from PBS affiliate WHYY. A lawsuit filed by the U.S. attorney's office in Delaware has accused the center of participating in a "scheme to illegally profit" from Medicare and Medicaid programs. CIPS and Chee Woo, MD, its president at the time, allegedly were paid millions of dollars between 2018 and 2021 through thousands of violations of the False Claims Act.