False Claims Act Insights - Bitter Pills: DOJ Targets Pharmacies for FCA Enforcement
Prescribing GLP-1 Medications: Be Aware of Legal Limitations
Understanding Pharmacy Benefit Managers: The PBM Landscape Explained
The DEA Is Knocking at Your Door . . . Are You Prepared? – Diagnosing Health Care
340B Drug Pricing Program Compliance
Podcast: Post-Dobbs Access to Reproductive Health Care and Abortion-Inducing Drugs - Diagnosing Health Care
Podcast: Impact of COVID-19 on Pharmacist Scope of Practice: Before and After the PREP Act - Diagnosing Health Care
Hooper, Kearney and Macklin on Cutting Edge Topics in the False Claims Act
Edible Bites Episode 3: Cannabis and Life Sciences Video Webinar Series
Health Care Continues to Drive False Claims Act Recoveries: Thought Leaders in Health Law Video Series
Drug Pricing Initiatives During the Trump Presidency
Bill on Bankruptcy: AMR Make-Whole Opinion Vulnerable on Appeal
In a landmark victory for justice and public health, Rabin Kammerer Johnson (RKJ) and Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley—are announcing a $300 million settlement in a landmark whistleblower qui tam action against...more
Walgreens to Pay $300 Million to Settle DOJ Claims Over Invalid Opioid Prescriptions - Walgreens Boots Alliance has agreed to pay more than $300 million to resolve allegations brought by the US Department of Justice (DOJ)...more
The False Claims Act (FCA) remains one of the government’s most powerful tools in combating healthcare fraud, with a growing focus on opioid-related cases and violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute....more
In past years we have discussed how opioid-related enforcement efforts have remained a top federal and state priority (here, here, and here). In 2024, opioid-related enforcement efforts continued across the entire opioid...more
Recent Filings Shed Light on DOJ’s View of Supreme Court’s Recent FCA Ruling - On June 1, 2023, the US Supreme Court explained that an assessment of a defendant’s subjective beliefs — rather than what an objectively...more
The COVID-19 pandemic has created many new enforcement priorities for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). From selling ineffective personal protective equipment (PPE) to companies fraudulently seeking loan forgiveness under...more
The Justice Department handed Walmart a huge slap in the face last year with the filing of a comprehensive civil case alleging that Walmart knowingly distributed large quantities of opioids in disregard of the law that fueled...more
DOJ Announces Charges Against 345 Defendants in Historic Nationwide Health Care Fraud and Opioid Takedown - The DOJ announced a nationwide enforcement action charging 345 defendants across 51 federal districts with...more
In a second criminal case against a pharmaceutical distributor and its executives this year, the Department of Justice has accused Ohio-based Miami-Luken and its former President and Compliance Officer of conspiring to...more
INTRODUCTION - A wave of recent indictments unsealed against opioid distributors and their executives signifies that the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has embarked on a criminal crackdown after years of civil...more
In February, the Department of Justice (DOJ) successfully leveraged a new weapon to target pharmacies as it battles the nation’s opioid crisis. The new approach utilizes court-ordered temporary restraining orders (TROs) that...more
On Thursday, February 7, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee granted a request by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for a temporary restraining order (TRO) to close two pharmacies accused of...more
On February 8, 2019, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it obtained a temporary restraining order (TRO) in the Middle District of Tennessee against two pharmacies, their owner and three pharmacists from dispensing...more
This month the Department of Justice brought a “first of its kind” action against two pharmacies, their owner, and three pharmacists for allegedly dispensing and billing Medicare for prescriptions in violation of both the...more
U.S. Attorney’s Offices (“USAOs”) across the country are issuing warning letters to physicians and other prescribers (collectively, “Prescribers”) cautioning them about their opioid prescribing practices (the “Warning...more
It’s Time to Review Your Compliance, Data and Auditing Plans - As we near the end of 2018, healthcare providers and companies are understandably focused on 2019 and the trends ahead. In planning for next year, however,...more
The opioid crisis in America is now well known, affecting a staggering number of people directly or indirectly and occupying a regular place in media reports and political discussions. In addition to potential public health...more
Recently, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced its largest ever national health care fraud takedown, resulting in charges against 601 diverse defendants including...more
The opioid epidemic is different than other drug related social problems because, in many cases, addiction to opioids starts in the medical office or in the pharmacy; in most cases through the treatment of legitimate physical...more
As we predicted in our year-end post on civil and criminal enforcement trends, 2018 is already off to strong start in opioid-related enforcement against individual providers and associated practices. Earlier this month, the...more
In part one of this series, I detailed how the U.S. Department of Justice has focused its attention on the aggressive investigation and prosecution of “pill mill” cases. See “Part One: DOJ Devotes Resources, Vows to Come...more
Before joining Burr & Forman, I was a federal prosecutor for a little over a decade focusing on health care fraud and general white collar matters. In that role, I was a member of a prosecution team that secured guilty...more
On August 2, 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the formation of the Opioid Fraud and Abuse Detection Unit and a new Department of Justice (DOJ) data analytics program to combat opioid-related fraud and abuse. The...more
On July 13, 2017, the Department of Justice ("DOJ"), in conjunction with the Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS"), continued its annual tradition of coordinating the filing of charges and sweeping arrests in...more