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U.S. cardiovascular disease testing laboratories Health Diagnostics Laboratory Inc (HDL) and Singulex Inc have agreed to pay $48.5 million to settle claims they paid kickbacks and conducted unnecessary testing, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Thursday. Both U.S. companies were accused of violating the False Claims Act by paying physicians in exchange for patient referrals and billing federal healthcare programs, including Medicare, for medically unnecessary testing, according to court documents. (4/9)

Federal authorities are cracking down on cardiac biomarker laboratories that they allege paid doctors kickbacks to provide patients’ blood samples for testing. Health Diagnostic Laboratory Inc. and Singulex Inc. agreed to pay at least $47 million and $1.5 million, respectively, to settle civil allegations filed by the Justice Department that they paid doctors for patient blood and billed Medicare for medically unnecessary testing. (Carreyrou, 4/19)

Walgreens will shutter about 200 U.S. stores as part of an expanded cost reduction push, but the nation’s largest drugstore chain has no plans to shrink in the wake of its combination with European health and beauty retailer Alliance Boots. The Deerfield, Illinois, company expects to open roughly the same number of stores and will consider more mergers and acquisitions, even as it continues to digest a nearly $16 billion deal that finalized its combination with Alliance Boots, which runs the United Kingdom’s largest pharmacy chain. (Murphy, 4/9)