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
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
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
“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
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
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
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
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
To celebrate the opening of Rivkin Radler’s first Florida office, we’ll cover some recent Florida frauds. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on April 20 that two Miami residents, Dean Zusmer and Lawrence...more
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on April 20 that it has brought criminal charges against 18 defendants across the U.S. for various fraud schemes related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The DOJ seized more than $16...more
In a climate of shrinking margins, diminishing reimbursement, and frequent denials, healthcare organizations may make efforts to increase the volume of services they provide, especially those that are more profitable. Of...more
A recent article in Part B News, “Be careful about upcoding; DOJ may come after it as a false claim,” discussed how the U.S. Department of Justice frequently prosecutes improper billing of CPT codes for Medicare patients. ...more
HealthOne Critical Care Transport Service Inc., doing business as MedicOne Medical Response of Marion, Illinois, has agreed to pay $302,124 to settle allegations it improperly billed Medicare for scheduled, non-emergency...more
Since 2016, Epstein Becker Green (EBG) has researched, compiled, and analyzed state-specific content relating to the regulatory requirements for professional mental/behavioral health practitioners and stakeholders seeking to...more
The U.S. Department of Justice recently announced that a federal grand jury has charged two pharmacy owners, a mother-daughter duo from South Florida, with healthcare fraud, wire fraud, and payment of kickbacks in exchange...more
The Justice Department is continuing to use criminal enforcement as an important tool in the fight against healthcare fraud. While the False Claims Act continues its important place in the fight against healthcare fraud, DOJ...more
If our most recent Fraud Week post (NY Chiropractor Billed for Non-Existent Acupuncture Services) didn’t already drive home the point, it is worth emphasizing that billing insurers for items or services that weren’t actually...more
What: The U.S. Supreme Court recently granted certiorari on a petition seeking to curtail the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) ability to dismiss False Claims Act (FCA) qui tam cases, even if DOJ has determined that the...more
As part of its ongoing effort to crack down on health care-related COVID-19 fraud, the U.S. Justice Department has launched a nationwide coordinated law enforcement action that recently led to criminal charges against 21...more
Volumes have been written about the False Claims Act as a tool to pursue fraud against the government in circumstances where the defendant has allegedly made false statements to receive money from the government. For...more
On April 20, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced criminal charges against 21 people across the country for COVID-19-related frauds. The defendants are accused of over $149 million in false billings to federal...more