WellCare Health Plans has left its cloud behind and come out into the sunshine, announcing better-than-expected earnings and filing suit against two more former executives.

During a broadcast of its third quarter results this morning, WellCare announced a strong performance, with profits up – even after adjusting for costs of government investigations and lawsuits associated with accusations of Medicaid fraud that were filed last year.

“It seems like they’ve got their house back in order now,” said Roy Moore, senior market analyst for HealthLeaders-Interstudy.

A new study by HealthLeaders, which analyzes the managed care market, said WellCare’s strong Medicaid HMO position in multiple states will enable it to grow with the upcoming Medicaid expansion that is part of the new health law passed earlier this year. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act could bring WellCare 16 million new Medicaid beneficiaries by 2019, growing its Medicaid business by 46 percent, the study said.

While Republicans have threatened to repeal the health-care law, they can’t as long as the Senate and White House are in Democrats’ hands. Moore said the newly elected Republican governors — including Florida’s Rick Scott – will likely push for the outsourcing of Medicaid services to HMOs like WellCare.

“The states are essentially broke,” Moore said. “They don’t want Medicaid expanded, but they do want [those patients] to be in the HMOs. The overall ‘pie’ won’t get bigger but the percentage of the pie going to companies like WellCare will get bigger.”

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WellCare Health Plans became one of the biggest political contributors in Florida between 2004 and 2007, using a web of companies and employees to shower the state Republican Party and GOP candidates with campaign cash.

But Tampa attorney Barry Cohen says WellCare did more than line pockets to keep political favor. Cohen, who represents a whistleblower in a federal lawsuit against WellCare, said today the contributions were pennies on the dollar compared to the money the HMO saved in Medicaid fines — and the profits it made.

In an unusual legal move, Cohen now wants one of the recipients of the campaign cash, Attorney General Bill McCollum, disqualified from helping decide how much WellCare should have to pay to settle the whistleblower case, which alleges widespread Medicaid fraud.

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A health-law attorney in St. Petersburg has triggered comment in legal circles nationwide for suing an online consumer rating service that gave him just 3.7 out of 10 points — a rating described in a legal blog as lower than a “brick.”

Larry Joe Davis Jr. of St. Petersburg filed suit for defamation against Avvo.com, a consumer site for lawyers, which lists Davis with a red-lettered “caution” sign because of disciplinary action by the Florida Bar. Davis, who is board-certified in health law, represents physician groups and hospitals.

A previous suit against Avvo by an attorney who had a “caution” sign was thrown out on First Amendment grounds.

Davis says he’s not suing Avvo.com over the rating, but because the Seattle-based company put him in the wrong category, gave an outdated address and used his photo without his permission. He said he discovered his listing under “labor and employment law” from a potential client.

Avvo CEO and President Mark Britton said Davis’ allegations of harm are farfetched and classified the lawsuit as the act of a schoolyard “bully.”

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A former hospital executive has accused Naples-based Health Management Associates of offering money, free rent and private jet trips to entice doctors to refer Medicare patients to the company’s hospitals.

In a whistleblower lawsuit unsealed Aug. 2 by a federal judge, former hospital CEO J. Michael Mastej also accused his former employer of filing fraudulent claims on services HMA’s facilities provided the ill-gotten Medicare patients.

His lawsuit doesn’t specify an exact number of claims, but states that the fraud spanned from at least 2007 to the present at facilities “in Florida and elsewhere.” HMA presently operates approximately 56 hospitals in 15 states.

Mastej, who now lives in Blairsville, Ga., is a former resident of Bonita Springs in Lee County. He filed the qui tam suit in January.

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WellCare Health Plans announced a second-quarter loss but also preliminary settlement of a class-action suit by shareholders with the Securities and Exchange Commission for $200 million.

This proposed settlement does not affect the one still pending with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida over civil charges of Medicaid fraud. The company has said previously that it expects to settle that case for about $137.5 million, although a whistleblower in the case has promised to fight for more.

Other news from the company is also a mix of positive and negative. WellCare achieved full accreditation — an effort that takes years — from a national association, but also announced restructuring plans that will involve layoffs.

Most of the positions being eliminated are currently unfilled, the company said, so layoffs should affect fewer than 100 employees among a workforce of 3,400.

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