False Claims Act Insights - Are the FCA’s Qui Tam Provisions Unconstitutional? One Federal Judge Says “Yes"
False Claims Act Insights - Assessing the Fallout from a Thermonuclear FCA Verdict
FCA Uncovered: Mitigating Risk in the Regulatory Spotlight — Regulatory Oversight Podcast
False Claims Act Insights - Think You Know Whistleblowers? Think Again.
Fraud and Abuse Enforcement Priorities in the Wake of COVID-19 - Diagnosing Health Care Podcast
This is the fifth in our 2025 Year in Preview series examining important trends in white collar law and investigations in the coming year. We will be posting further installments in the series throughout the next several...more
For the first time ever, a judge has ruled that the qui tam provision of the False Claims Act (FCA), which whistleblowers have used to recover $52 billion on behalf of the government since 1986, is unconstitutional....more
In early May 2024, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) agreed to pay $38 million to resolve a False Claims Act case based on alleged Stark Law violations. The size of the settlement in United States ex rel. J....more
On September 27, 2023, the Chief Judge of the District of Massachusetts decided that the standard in False Claims Act (“FCA”) cases premised on alleged violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”) is but-for causation....more
The False Claims Act’s (FCA) materiality requirement as articulated by the U.S. Supreme Court in Universal Health Servs., Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar, 579 U.S. 176 (2016) was again front and center, this time in a...more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) released its annual summary of False Claims Act (FCA) recoveries for the prior fiscal year, and the data points to a number of notable trends. Although DOJ brought in the second-highest...more
In a split decision issued January 25, 2022, the Fourth Circuit strongly endorsed a defense to False Claims Act liability for entities that submit claims to the government in today’s complex regulatory environment, finding:...more
In U.S. ex rel. Freedman v. Bayada Home Health Care, Inc., No. 3:19-cv-18753-FLW-ZNQ, 2021 WL 1904735 (D.N.J. May 12, 2021), a New Jersey District Court found that the relator failed to plead a cognizable theory of liability...more
In United States ex rel. Silver v. Omnicare, Inc., et al. (D.N.J. No. 11-cv-01326), a whistleblower relator consistently alleged that certain pharmaceutical service providers have engaged in an illegal kickback arrangement...more
In U.S. ex rel. Sonyika v. ApolloMD, Inc. et al., 2021 WL 1222379 (N.D. Ga. Mar. 31, 2021), a Georgia federal court allowed a relator’s Amended Complaint alleging a fraudulent scheme involving improper billing for services...more
A federal judge recently ruled that submission of electronic data to the government can, under appropriate circumstances, give rise to liability under the False Claims Act. In U.S. ex rel. Marc Silver et al. v. Omnicare Inc....more
The Background: In early December, the Supreme Court denied a whistleblower's request to review the Fifth Circuit's affirmance of the district court's dismissal of a False Claims Act ("FCA") case. This denial left the...more
Key Points: - False Claims Act plaintiff cannot use discovery to satisfy Fed. R. Civ. P. 9(b). - Payment of fair market value is a dispositive defense in FCA actions alleging a violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute. ...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently issued a False Claims Act (FCA) decision calling into question productivity-based physician compensation structures under the Stark Law, in reliance on a controversial...more
The recent federal court opinion issued in United States ex rel. Integra Med Analytics, LLC v. Baylor Scott & White Health, et al, illustrates the continued importance of examining the plausibility of allegations made in qui...more
On August 20, 2019, the United States exercised its authority under the False Claims Act (FCA) to seek dismissal of a relator’s qui tam suit because of the defendant’s burdensome discovery demands, in Polansky v. Executive...more
On December 11, 2018, the United States announced that it has elected to intervene in a False Claims Act (FCA) lawsuit filed against Sutter Health and its affiliated entity Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) alleging that...more
A LOOK BACK... A LOOK AHEAD - While the uncertainty associated with legislative efforts to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) dominated most of the headlines for the healthcare industry last year,...more
• How have appellate courts applied the Supreme Court’s ruling in Escobar? • If the government is aware of the relator’s allegation, but does not undertake any administrative action to address the defendant’s alleged...more
In a recent False Act Claims (FCA) suit involving the blockbuster cancer drug Avastin, the Third Circuit barred a relator’s qui tam suit because his Complaint lacked sufficient factual allegations that, if true, would...more
The Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal of two False Claims Act ("FCA") cases brought by private relators against insurance and other companies based on the alleged failure to reimburse the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid...more
Prompt Payment Discounts Not an Anti-Kickback Statute Violation - In United States of Am. et al. ex rel. Ruscher v. Omnicare, No. 15-20629, 2016 WL 6407128 (5th Cir. Oct. 28, 2016), the court of appeals affirmed summary...more
Key Points: - Learn the latest case law developments regarding what evidence the government or the relator must establish to prove that the defendant “recklessly” interpreted a statute or regulation in violation of the...more
With Halloween looming, a discussion of skeletons that may be lurking in a health care provider’s closet is timely. Many of our previous posts, as well as the monthly Qui Tam Updates published by our Health Care Enforcement...more
After the federal government’s victory against Tuomey Hospital, we have seen an increasing number of large False Claims Act (FCA) settlements with hospitals involving Stark Law allegations. Relators are even citing, as...more