Medical Device Legal News with Sam Bernstein: Episode 14
The Justice Insiders: FIFA Corruption Trial – Will the Feds Score Another Goal?
Rob DeConti on the Latest Guidance and Insights from the OIG at HHS
On June 6, 2025, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued Advisory Opinion 25-03 (the “Opinion”), offering guidance for structuring telehealth collaborations in a manner that complies with the federal Anti-Kickback...more
US Supreme Court Declines to Consider AKS ‘Willfulness’ Question - On October 7, the US Supreme Court denied a petition in which a whistleblower asked the Court to decide whether a “willful” act under the federal...more
Each summer in recent years, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and associated fraud enforcement partners have indicted many health care defendants, in multiple cases across the country. This summer continued the tradition....more
On November 22, 2023, while many were preparing for the Thanksgiving holiday, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) posted a consumer alert (Alert) warning the public about a fraud scheme involving monthly billing for remote...more
Whenever new technologies emerge or new pots of government funds for assistance are available, you can count on one thing (as the sun rises and sets) – fraudsters will figure out a way to steal money from innocent persons and...more
Recently, Womble Bond Dickinson held its First Annual Health Care Fraud Symposium, a webinar designed to discuss critical healthcare fraud topics. WBD Partner Joe Whitley moderated a discussion with WBD attorneys Luke Cass,...more
Top Reasons for 2022’s Downward Trend in False Claims Act Recoveries - Following the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) release of statistics regarding FCA settlements and judgments for the 2022 fiscal year, Law360 spoke...more
In 2020, we published an eAlert titled “Telehealth in a Changing World - Trending Risks and How to Minimize Potential Exposure.” As we predicted would happen, the government has become acutely focused on telehealth fraud....more
A physician in Washington state pled guilty on September 28, 2022, to a criminal charge of conspiring to accept kickbacks related to fraudulent genetic testing. According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), the physician...more
While the rise of telehealth has brought us a plethora of advantages in the past two years, the concern of heightened fraud and abuse risks must not be overlooked. On July 20, 2022, the US Department of Health and Human...more
On July 20, 2022, the United States Department of Justice (the DOJ) announced charges against multiple defendants alleging fraudulent schemes (including telemedicine arrangements) totaling more than $1.2 billion. That same...more
On July 20, 2022, the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a Special Fraud Alert cautioning physicians and other health care practitioners to use “heightened scrutiny” when entering into telemedicine arrangements that...more
On July 20, 2022, the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a Special Fraud Alert (Alert) concerning the fraud and abuse risks associated with healthcare practitioners entering...more
On July 20, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a Special Fraud Alert to caution healthcare practitioners who may wish to enter into arrangements with telehealth...more
On July 20, 2022, the Department of Justice announced charges against 36 criminal defendants across 13 different federal districts for healthcare fraud violations resulting in Government losses in excess of $1.2 billion. The...more
The US Office of Inspector General (OIG) released another in a series of Special Fraud Alerts on July 20, 2022, this one directed to potentially fraudulent telehealth, telemedicine, and telemarketing service fraud schemes,...more
The Office of Inspector General (“OIG”), in tandem with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and other law enforcement agencies, participated (in the 2022 National Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action (the...more
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it has filed charges against 36 defendants in relation to an alleged health care fraud scheme that resulted in approximately $1.2 billion in fraudulent payments....more
The Department of Justice recently released their Year in Review summary of activity by the Healthcare Fraud Unit, detailing enforcements efforts related to some of the more significant telehealth-related fraud claims in...more
STATISTICAL TRENDS IN FALSE CLAIMS ACT LITIGATION - FCA case activity for 2021 reveals seemingly contrary trends. For the federal fiscal year (FY) that ended September 30, 2021, the DOJ annual report on FCA enforcement...more
In this podcast Rob DeConti, Assistant Inspector General for Legal Affairs within the office of counsel to the Inspector General at HHS, was good enough to share a tremendous amount of insight into what the OIG is seeing,...more
On May 26, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced criminal charges against 14 defendants in six states for participation in healthcare fraud schemes related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The coordinated takedown involved...more
Report on Medicare Compliance 29, no. 39 (November 2, 2020) - Medtronic USA Inc., a medical device maker, has agreed to pay $8.1 million to settle allegations it violated the False Claims Act by paying kickbacks to induce...more
As a result of the Trump administration’s expanded Medicare telehealth coverage, providers are now able to offer and be reimbursed for a wider range of services provided via telemedicine. In light of the current COVID-19...more
Report on Medicare Compliance 29, no. 16 (April 27, 2020) - The HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) has proposed a rule on civil monetary penalties (CMPs) for information blocking and fraud related to HHS grants, contracts...more