The False Claims Act enables a private citizen with unique knowledge of fraud committed against the federal government (such as health care fraud, contract fraud, and tax fraud) to file a lawsuit under seal (not accessible to the public) seeking treble (triple the amount) damages on behalf of the government... Read more about the False Claims Act
The United States has intervened in a False Claims Act case against Florida-based Health Management Associates, Inc. (HMA), after uncovering allegations of unlawful kickbacks and improper billing claims to federal healthcare entities such as Medicare and Medicaid, the Atlanta Business Chronicle announced last month.
HMA allegedly encouraged physicians to inappropriately admit a certain number of emergency room patients each year and submit reimbursement claims for treating those individuals to... full text
St. James Healthcare (St. James) and its parent company, Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System (Sisters of Charity), have agreed to pay $3.85 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Law, the Department of Justice announced today.
Allegedly, St. James knowingly provided financial benefits to physicians and physician groups that made referrals to the hospital. The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits the provision of... full text
Taylor Bean & Whitaker Mortgage may pay the United States more than $320 million to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act submitting false mortgage claims, Bloomberg Businessweek announced earlier this month.
The settlement would resolve allegations that Taylor Bean knowingly submitted fraudulent mortgages to the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Taylor Bean allegedly submitted false, fraudulent, incomplete... full text
Illinois-based Abbott Laboratories has agreed to pay the United States $5.475 million to resolve allegations that the company violated the False Claims Act by paying kickbacks to induce doctors to implant the company’s vascular products, the Justice Department announced today. Abbott is a global pharmaceuticals and health care products company.
The settlement resolves allegations that Abbott knowingly paid prominent physicians for teaching assignments, speaking engagements and... full text
Genzyme Corp. (Genzyme) has agreed to pay $22.28 million to resolve allegations, under the False Claims Act, that they knowingly marketed and caused false claims to be submitted to federal and state health care programs for use of a “slurry” version of its Seprafilm adhesion barrier, the Justice Department announced today.
Seprafilm is a thin film intended to reduce adhesions after surgery by forming a bio-resorbable barrier between abdominal tissue and organs. Genzyme... full text
The Justice Department secured $3.8 billion for settlements and judgments from civil cases involving fraud against the government in the 2013 fiscal year, the U.S. Department of Justice announced today.
This amount, which is the second largest annual recovery of its type in history, brings total recoveries under the False Claims Act, since 2009, to $17 billion – nearly half the total recoveries since the Act was amended 27 years ago in 1986.
The Justice Department’s efforts... full text
Cardiologist Dr. Elie H. Korban (Korban) will pay $1.15 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations that he billed Medicare and Medicaid for medically unnecessary cardiac stent placements, the Justice Department announced today.
Cardiac stents are mesh tubes placed in coronary arteries of patients to keep their arteries open during the treatment of coronary heart disease. The government alleges that Korban placed cardiac stents in Medicare and Medicaid patients when the stents were... full text
After a decade-long legal battle, Dr. Van Pena won $1.35 million from the California’s state-run Sonoma Developmental Center for wrongful termination in connection with his attempts to report “gross medical negligence” in 2000, Petaluma360 reported.
Dr. Pena had worked at Sonoma Developmental Center, a full time care facility for over a thousand developmentally disabled adults, for ten years. In 2000, he reported “gross medical negligence” to center officials... full text
Northrop Grumman Corp. (Northrop ) has paid the United States $11.4 million to settle a government claim for penalties provided under the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and False Claims Act allegations stemming from its failure to abide by a 2002 settlement agreement, the Justice Department announced earlier this week.
Northrop allegedly charged federal contracts certain costs for deferred compensation awards to key employees, even though it had promised not to do so as part of an earlier... full text
The government has intervened in a lawsuit against IPC The Hospitalist Co. Inc. (IPC), and its subsidiaries, under the False Claims Act, for submitting false claims to federal health care programs, the Justice Department announced yesterday.
IPC, one of the largest providers of hospitalist services in the US, employs physicians and other health care providers who work in more than 1,300 facilities in 28 states. Hospitalists are physicians who work only in hospitals and other long-... full text
