Christ Hospital and the federal government have reached a settlement agreement on a whistle-blower lawsuit that accused the hospital of defrauding federal health-care programs, reported the Business Courier of Cincinnati.

MedWish International still is collecting medical supplies for victims of the Haitian earthquake while Ohio doctors, nurses and other medical professionals volunteer to help.

Northeast Ohio’s economy has been more similar to the U.S. economy during the current recession than in the 1981 recession, thanks in part to growth in the region’s biomedical industry, according to the most recent edition of Team NEO’s quarterly Cleveland Plus Economic Review.

The agreement means that people who hold insurance from Medical Mutual of Ohio, the state’s largest insurer, will be able to continue obtaining service at Premier-owned health centers.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland called financially troubled Forum Health in Youngstown “a critically urgent situation,” while three federal legislators appealed to President Obama for financial assistance for the bankrupt health-care agency.

The family of Kent W. Clapp, the late CEO of health insurer Medical Mutual of Ohio, has sued the charter airline company involved in the Dec. 3, 2008, crash that claimed the lives of Clapp and his fiancee, Tracy Turner. The family also has filed a claim with the Federal Aviation Administration.

The state’s largest insurer says the new system boasts benefits for both doctors and patients. It will make it easier for doctors to collect payment from patients immediately following care. As more patients enroll in high-deductible health plans and consumers’ budgets have tightened due to the recession, collecting payment from patients has become a greater concern for physicians and other medical providers in recent years.

Ohio is the main beachhead to test the Web-based Quicken Health Expense Tracker. Medical Mutual is among the insurers who will give all its customers access, it and plans to be the first insurer to let patients pay physicians through the software. Intuit and the insurers are both promising a new approach for patients and a painless transition for physicians.

Medical Mutual of Ohio has hired its longtime legal counselor, Patrick J. Dugan, as chief legal officer and executive vice president. Dugan will responsible for managing the internal legal staff and coordinating outside legal activities for the Cleveland-based health care insurer.