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 11, 2025, the Ninth Circuit issued a decision clarifying the scope of Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (EKRA). In affirming a Northern California-based medical testing laboratory’s convictions under EKRA, the...more
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
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
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
On June 30, 2025, New York Attorney General (AG) Letitia James announced new lawsuits, criminal charges, and settlements with 25 New York transportation companies related to alleged schemes to defraud Medicaid of millions....more
Key Takeaways - First Appellate Interpretation of EKRA: The Ninth Circuit’s decision in United States v. Schena marks the first appellate court interpretation of the Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act (EKRA), affirming...more
On December 4, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit heard oral arguments in USA v. Mark Sorensen, case number 24-1557, and it is now taking under advisement a case that could have widespread effects as to what...more
Florida Federal Judge Strikes Down FCA’s Qui Tam Provision as Unconstitutional - On September 30, US District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle of the Middle District of Florida held in a historic decision that the federal...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
Lab Owner Sentenced to Over 16 Years for Health Care Fraud, Money Laundering - On September 26, 2023, a US District Judge for the Western District of North Carolina sentenced a Charlotte lab owner, Donald Booker, to over...more
Walgreens Medicaid Fraud Case Kicked Back to Trial Court - On August 15, 2023, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued an opinion reversing a district judge’s dismissal of False Claims Act (FCA) claims...more
This issue of McDermott’s Healthcare Regulatory Check-Up highlights significant regulatory activity for March 2023. We discuss several criminal and civil enforcement actions that involve Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and...more
California Man Convicted in $27 Million PPP Fraud Scheme - After a trial before a federal jury, a California man was convicted of bank fraud, making false statements to a financial institution, and money laundering for...more
On November 4, 2021, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the conviction of several South Florida addiction treatment facility operators following a seven-week trial. ...more
In a recent opinion from the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the court analyzed several alleged points of error from a criminal jury trial about a healthcare kickback scheme. See United States v....more
William F. Gould In United States v. Merino, No. 19-50291, 2021 WL 754589 (9th Cir. Feb. 26, 2021), the court of appeals reversed the conviction of Marina Merino of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud in violation of 18...more
Earlier this year, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) published a final rule (ONC Rule) addressing interoperability, information blocking and patient access to data. The ONC Rule...more
In the final quarter of calendar year 2019, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) released its Semiannual Report to Congress (the “Report”). The Report covers the six-month period...more
Patient Recruiter Convicted in $1.3 Million Kickback Conspiracy Scheme - After a six-day trial, a federal jury in Detroit found a patient recruiter guilty of one count of conspiracy to pay and receive health care...more
Podiatrist Sentenced to Prison for Fraudulent Billing Scheme - On July 19, 2019, a New York podiatrist was sentenced to 366 days in prison, assessed a $50,000 fine, ordered to pay $869,651 in restitution and forfeit...more
On April 30, 2018 a Massachusetts physician was convicted of a criminal violation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), as well as one count of obstruction of a criminal health care...more
The healthcare industry continues to be a frequent target for criminal prosecutions. More importantly, federal prosecutors are ready, willing and able to bring criminal cases against C-Suite actors involved in healthcare...more