On July 16, 49 attorneys general (AGs) announced that they joined a $202 million settlement with Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Gilead). Previously announced by the Department of Justice in April, the settlement resolved allegations...more
Late last month, the federal government announced a False Claims Act settlement with Summit BHC New Jersey, LLC, d/b/a Seabrook (“Seabrook”), a prominent New Jersey Drug & Alcohol Rehabilitation facility. The joint settlement...more
Following a jury's verdict, a federal court slashed civil penalties under the False Claims Act ("FCA") as violative of the Constitution's 8th Amendment....more
On December 23, 2024, various Aetna affiliates (referred to hereafter as Aetna) filed suit against Radiology Partners, Inc., a national, private-equity-backed radiology group, alleging that Radiology Partners defrauded the...more
In what it describes as a “First-of-its-Kind Healthcare Generative AI Investigation”, the Texas Attorney General (AGO) recently reached a settlement agreement with an artificial intelligence (AI) healthcare technology...more
On October 15, Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown announced that his office reached a $27 million settlement with Precision Toxicology to resolve allegations that it submitted false claims to government health...more
As we detailed in a previous blog, on October 3, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) published a strategic plan to “safeguard[] the integrity of HHS grants and contracts.” The...more
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California announced on October 11 that Dr. Janette Gray and her former medical practice, The Center for Health & Wellbeing in San Diego, resolved False Claims Act (FCA)...more
To prove a False Claim under the False Claims Act (FCA), the government or relator must establish three elements: 1.Falsity; - 2.Knowledge; and - 3.Materiality. In this blog post, we will explore the Falsity element. ...more
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan announced on May 8 that Michigan Ear Care PLLC and James Aronovitz, D.O. agreed to pay over $2 million to resolve allegations that they submitted false claims to...more
“Incident to” billing is widely practiced, and its regulations are generally well-known. But one Arizona physician recently found himself pleading guilty in federal court on April 3, 2024, to a criminal healthcare fraud...more
The owner of Bergen Alliance Counseling Services in Paramus, New Jersey pleaded guilty to a run-of-the-mill healthcare fraud scheme in District Court in Newark on March 19. Maria Cosentino of Garfield, a licensed clinical...more
The following is a summary of selected federal Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) reports of fraud and abuse enforcement activity across the country. The enforcement actions reported...more
Is Medicare Advantage really a Disadvantage for seniors and taxpayers? Our nation is graying rapidly. Every day, 10,000 baby boomers, members of one of the largest generations in U.S. history, hit the traditional...more
Owner of Telemedicine Companies Settles $110 Million Health Care Fraud Claim - Steven Richardson, the owner of telemedicine companies Expansion Media, LLC and Hybrid Management Group LLC, agreed to settle allegations that...more
H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute Hospital Inc. in Tampa, Florida, has agreed to pay $19.564 million to settle false claims allegations over claims submitted to federal health care programs for items and...more
A Long Island man who impersonated the general counsel of the NFL and an NBA player as part of his scheme for multiple frauds will now serve jail time. Sentenced in federal court in Central Islip, Matthew James used...more
The U.S. Department of Justice recently announced that Silver Lake Hospital, a long-term care hospital in Newark, New Jersey, and some of its investors agreed to pay $30.6 million to settle claims that they violated the False...more
As previously reported in this post, criminal trials premised on upcoding evaluation and management (E/M) service codes are extremely rare. The Justice Department took that rare step in Maryland in connection with a practice...more
On December 14, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and other agencies announced the indictment of Niranjan Mittal, a Brooklyn cardiologist, on multiple fraud charges. Mittal allegedly fabricated...more
Evaluation and management (E/M) services have been called “the core” of healthcare billing. E/M is a catch-all claim, allowing medical professionals to bill for diagnosing or treating nearly any illness or injury. E/M is also...more
Question: I am under audit by a dental plan I participate with. The audit has identified a few issues in connection with how my billing employees have been submitting claims for payment. For example, the name of the treating...more
There have been several noteworthy False Claims Act (FCA) settlements in the second quarter of 2023. Four of these settlements have come in over $20 million. This post summarizes key settlements of interest....more