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
Executive Summary - - Offering equity in MSOs to physicians can be permissible but must be structured to comply with both federal and state laws. Failure to comply with applicable fraud and abuse laws may result in civil...more
On August 7, the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued Advisory Opinion No. 25-09, providing significant guidance for physician-owned medical device companies (PODs)....more
On July 28, the federal district court in the Southern District of Ohio issued a pair of orders in related whistleblower cases under the False Claims Act (FCA): United States ex rel. Murphy v. TriHealth, Inc., et al., No....more
Despite changes in many priorities, the federal government’s scrutiny of relationships between hospitals and physicians continues well into 2025. Last month, Community Health System (CHS) in California and its affiliate,...more
In April, a pharmaceutical manufacturer agreed to pay a $202 million settlement to resolve allegations of Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) violations. At the heart of the case were speaker programs, where physicians and...more
This issue of McDermott’s Healthcare Regulatory Check-Up highlights regulatory activity for April 2025, including Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) updates to Medicare Advantage (MA) and other Medicare programs....more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently rejected an effort by the federal government to extend the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) to a marketing company in the absence of influence by the company over...more
On May 14, 2025, Fresno Community Hospital and Medical Center d/b/a Community Health System (CHS) and its technology partner, Physicians Network Advantage, Inc. (PNA), agreed to pay $31.5 million (the Settlement Agreement)...more
The pharmaceutical and medical device industries have long utilized speaker programs, which typically involve retaining health care professionals to speak or present on the companies’ products to educate their peers. Speaker...more
On April 14, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed the conviction of the owner of a durable medical equipment (“DME”) distributor, ruling that there was insufficient evidence to support a...more
On April 14, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued its opinion in United States v. Sorensen, No. 24-1557, reversing the criminal conviction of Mark Sorensen, the owner of SyMed Inc., a...more
On April 14, 2025, the Seventh and Second Circuits each issued opinions narrowing the scope of advertising, marketing, and booking fee activities that run afoul of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS). See United States v....more
On April 29, 2025, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) announced a $202 million civil False Claims Act (FCA) settlement with Gilead based on allegations that the company’s speaker program...more
Gilead to Pay $202 Million to Settle DOJ Claims Over Speaker Program Kickbacks - Gilead Sciences, Inc. has agreed to pay $202 million to resolve allegations brought by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) that it violated...more
On April 14, 2025, the Second Circuit issued a summary order holding that the relator failed to plead scienter, a necessary element under the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and the False Claims Act (FCA), where the defendant...more
Health care organizations working with marketers, independent sales representatives, advertising, and other consulting support to promote sales of products or services received welcomed news that their arrangements may be...more
Overview - In a significant decision, United States v. Sorensen, --- F.4th ----, 2025 WL 1099080 (7th Cir. Apr. 14, 2025), the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed the conviction of Mark...more
On April 14, 2025, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued a decision in a case involving the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”) and marketing services that the court framed as an appeal...more
Seventh Circuit Reverses AKS Conviction Involving Allegations of Illegal Marketing and Advertising - On April 14, the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed the criminal conviction of Mark Sorensen after a...more
The Office of Massachusetts Attorney General (AG) Andrea Campbell announced the criminal indictment of several Massachusetts-based health care providers and their owners in connection with allegedly false claims they...more
Long Island Businessman Arrested in $22 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme - A Long Island, New York, businessman was arrested on conspiracy, kickback, and money laundering charges stemming from an alleged scheme to defraud...more
Bass, Berry & Sims is pleased to announce the release of the 13th annual Healthcare Fraud & Abuse Review examining important healthcare fraud developments in 2024. Compiled by the firm's Healthcare Fraud & Abuse Task Force,...more
In January, the Department of Justice released its annual fraud statistics summarizing health care fraud settlements and judgments during the 2024 fiscal year. Last year, there were over $2.9 billion in fraud settlements and...more
Fraud related to hospital services – both inpatient and outpatient – has led to over $511 million in damages and hundreds of millions of dollars in False Claims Act (FCA) settlements over the past 15 years. The ER has been...more
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on January 15 that Jeffrey Paul Madison, the former chief executive officer of a Texas hospital, was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison for conspiring to violate the federal...more