From the Editor’s Desk: Compliance Week’s Insights and Reflections from July to August 2025
AI and the False Claims Act
False Claims Act Insights - Bitter Pills: DOJ Targets Pharmacies for FCA Enforcement
Hospice Insights Podcast - Election Inspection: Be Proactive to Avoid Costly Election Statement Denials
The Trend of Threatening Physicians for Personal Gain
Daily Compliance News: June 17, 2025, The JBS Goes Public Edition
False Claims Act Insights - Will Recent Leadership Changes Lead to FCA Enforcement Policy Changes?
Daily Compliance News: June 16, 2025, The Golden Share Edition
Hospice Insights Podcast - Still Number One: Healthcare Fraud Remains Central in DOJ’s White Collar Enforcement Plan
False Claims Act Insights - How Payment Suspensions Can Impact FCA Litigation
Daily Compliance News: May 16, 2025, The Ethics Nightmare Edition
False Claims Act Insights - Trump DOJ Sharpens Its Focus on Healthcare Fraud
How Life Sciences Companies Can Create a Culture of Compliance When Expanding to the U.S. Market
False Claims Act Insights - DOJ’s Reliance on FCA to Pursue Covid-Related Fraud
UPIC Audits
Criminal Health Care Fraud Enforcement: Projections for 2025 and Beyond – Diagnosing Health Care Video Podcast
AGG Talks: Home Health & Hospice Podcast - Episode 10: Anti-Kickback Compliance for Hospice and Skilled Nursing Providers
False Claims Act Insights - Stranger Than Fiction? An FCA April Fools’ Day Episode
The Presumption of Innocence Podcast: Episode 53 - Diagnosis: Innocent – A Doctor’s Journey to Acquittal
False Claims Act Insights - Reality Checks: How to Approach Healthcare Transactions Without Triggering FCA Liability
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
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
“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 U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced its False Claims Act (“FCA”) enforcement statistics for FY 2023 and identified key priorities for FCA enforcement in 2024 and beyond. The DOJ continues to pursue FCA...more
Whistleblower Watch is a comprehensive source for all False Claims Act (FCA) news and information. Every quarter, Cozen O’Connor will provide in-house counsel and compliance professionals with a summary of the most notable...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
A recent article in Law360 sparked a vigorous conversation among members of Pietragallo’s white collar practice group about the current state of the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) evolving emphasis on individual...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
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
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
Cosmetic surgeries are on the rise. One study of cosmetic surgery data found that body procedures like tummy tucks, buttock augmentation, and liposuction increased by 63 percent from 2020 to 2021. Facelifts were up 54...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
Similar to other types of healthcare entities, clinical laboratories have been facing enhanced scrutiny from federal authorities over the past couple of years. While this is due in part to fraud concerns related to COVID-19...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
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
Two recent multi-million dollar False Claims Act (“FCA”) settlements demonstrate the vigor with which the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) is investigating and prosecuting allegedly fraudulent health care billing practices....more
On October 17, 2022, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a $13 million settlement with health care services provider Sutter Health, which arose from alleged violations of the federal False Claims Act...more
Physicians Group Services, P.A. (PGS) has reached a settlement with the U.S. and Florida to resolve allegations that it submitted false or fraudulent claims to the Florida Medicaid Program....more