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Anti-Kickback Statute › Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act of 2018 (EKRA) › Criminal Prosecution

The Anti-Kickback Statute is a United States federal criminal statute that prohibits the exchange (or the promise to exchange) of anything of value for referrals of federal healthcare program business. The... more +
The Anti-Kickback Statute is a United States federal criminal statute that prohibits the exchange (or the promise to exchange) of anything of value for referrals of federal healthcare program business. The statute aims to prevent situations where government officials channel federal healthcare dollars towards particular providers, who have offered or given the official a personal benefit. Penalties for violation of the Anti-Kickback statute apply to both sides of a prohibited transaction and can include jail time and steep monetary fines. less -
Venable LLP

EKRA Has Teeth: Ninth Circuit Upholds Lab Operator’s Criminal Conviction for Paying Marketers for Referrals

Venable LLP on

In a matter of first impression, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals interpreted the scope of the 2018 Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (EKRA) in the context of a lab operator who allegedly paid marketers to induce...more

BakerHostetler

In Case of First Impression, Looking to AKS Precedent, Ninth Circuit Affirms EKRA Conviction for Improper Payments to Marketers

BakerHostetler on

In one of the few prosecutions based on the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (EKRA), and in an even rarer Court of Appeals opinion interpreting the statute, the Ninth Circuit in United States v. Schena, No. 23-2989, 2025...more

Mintz - Health Care Viewpoints

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Affirms EKRA Conviction for Lab Operator and Provides Insight into Key Provisions

Mintz - Health Care Viewpoints on

On July 11, 2025, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the criminal conviction of laboratory operator Mark Schena for violations of the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act, 18 U.S.C. § 220 (EKRA) based on...more

Epstein Becker & Green

Four Years After Enactment – Clinical Laboratories Should Not Forget About EKRA

Epstein Becker & Green on

It has been four years since Congress enacted the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (“EKRA”), codified at 18 U.S.C. § 220. EKRA initially targeted patient brokering and kickback schemes within the addiction treatment and...more

Epstein Becker & Green

Four Years After EKRA: Reminders for Clinical Laboratories

Epstein Becker & Green on

It has been four years since Congress enacted the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (“EKRA”), codified at 18 U.S.C. § 220. EKRA initially targeted patient brokering and kickback schemes within the addiction treatment and...more

Holland & Knight LLP

The State of EKRA: Summer 2022

Holland & Knight LLP on

Enacted in 2018, the Eliminating Kickbacks Recovery Act (EKRA) remains a source of anxiety and confusion in the clinical laboratory industry. In the four years since EKRA's enactment, U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)...more

Maynard Nexsen

Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (EKRA) Updates

Maynard Nexsen on

On October 24, 2018, Congress enacted the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act, (the “SUPPORT Act”). Section 1822 of the SUPPORT Act contains the...more

McGuireWoods LLP

California Doctor Pleads Guilty to EKRA Violations

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On September 15, 2020, Doctor Akikur R. Mohammad, a California resident and drug treatment facility owner, pled guilty before the U.S. District Court of New Jersey for violating the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

First EKRA Enforcement Announced

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

The first publicly disclosed prosecution under the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (“EKRA”) occurred last month, a little over a year after EKRA became law. As we described in a previous blog post, EKRA criminalizes...more

Buchalter

Nation’s First Conviction under EKRA

Buchalter on

What appears to be the United States’ first conviction under the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (“EKRA”) occurred last month when the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky accepted the...more

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

First Guilty Plea Under 2018 Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP on

The first guilty plea under The Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (EKRA) may come as a surprise to many in the lab industry hoping federal authorities would not enforce the new criminal statute until after Congress...more

Ruder Ware

Congress Creates a Mess by Enacting the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act of 2018

Ruder Ware on

Congress has activated a new Anti-Kickback law known as Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act of 2018 (commonly referred to as EKRA). The new Anti-Kickback law applies to arrangements involving recovery homes, clinical...more

Jones Day

Jones Day Talks Health Care: The Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act

Jones Day on

With the passage of the Eliminating Kickbacks and Recovery Act in October 2018, Congress took aim at the ongoing opioid crisis threatening communities across the U.S. This new criminal statute targets healthcare providers...more

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