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
Designed for busy in-house counsel and compliance professionals, this newsletter seeks to bring you up to speed on key federal and state False Claims Act (FCA) developments, with links to primary resources. Each quarter, we...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
DOJ Announces Agreement With Rite Aid to Settle Allegations of Violating the FCA and CSA in Relation to Opioid Dispensing - On July 10, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Rite Aid Corporation and 10 of its...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
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
Former Healthcare Executives Convicted for Health Insurance Policy Fraud Scheme - Steven Dorfman, the former chief executive officer and owner of the Florida-based healthcare company Simple Health, and John Sand, a former...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
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
Health Care Network Settles False Claims Act Allegations for $345 Million - Community Health Network Inc. (CHN) has agreed to pay $345,000,000 to settle allegations that it violated the False Claims Act (FCA) for knowingly...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
On June 1, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously settled a long-standing dispute over a subjective versus objective standard for scienter under the False Claims Act (FCA), holding that a defendant’s own subjective belief...more
Report on Medicare Compliance Volume 32, no 29 (August 2023) In a new Medicare transmittal (12,202), CMS introduced a new place of service (POS) code (27) for “Outreach Site/Street.” POS 27 is defined as “a non-permanent...more
Report on Medicare Compliance Volume 32, no 25 (July 2023) Hospices in four states will face heightened oversight. “CMS is placing newly enrolling hospices located in Arizona, California, Nevada, and Texas in a provisional...more
Last month in United States ex rel. Schutte, et al. v. SuperValu Inc. et al, the Supreme Court unanimously held (with Justice Thomas writing the opinion) that the False Claims Act’s (“FCA”) scienter element refers to a...more