For more information about qui tam law and health care fraud, contact Nolan & Auerbach, P.A.

For more information about qui tam law and health care fraud, contact Nolan & Auerbach, P.A.

Consistency by a state with the Federal False Claims Act, is a requirement for a large federal incentive afforded to the state, when Medicaid dollars are successfully recovered in a Federal False Claims Act lawsuit. The federal incentive allows states to receive an additional 10% of the Medicaid recoveries if they allow whistleblower/qui tam lawsuits in their state False Claims Acts, as long as the state False Claims Acts afford the same rights to whistleblowers as the federal False Claims Act does.

In an April 28, 2010 press release , Grassley asked the Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services and the Attorney General to review existing state False Claims Acts, to make sure they are in compliance with recent changes to the federal False Claims Act; and to issue appropriate guidance for any state interested in the federal incentive.. In addition to the 14 states which have already qualified for this incentive (and are now subject to this review), six states applied for it but did not meet the requirements.

For the full press release, go to: http://www.iowapolitics.com/index.iml?Article=194624. For more information about qui tam law and health care fraud, contact Nolan & Auerbach, PA.

In April 1999, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) determined that the unapproved drug Nitroglycerin SR lacked substantial evidence of effectiveness and published a notice proposing to withdraw approval of the product.  The qui tam lawsuit alleged that, after the FDA notice, Nitroglycerin SR no longer was legally eligible for reimbursement by government health care programs such as Medicaid.

The lawsuit alleged that  Eon submitted false quarterly reports to the government that misrepresented Nitroglycerin SR’s regulatory status as a Covered Outpatient Drug under the Medicaid program.

The settlement resolves allegations against Eon in a multi-defendant whistleblower action, which remains sealed in part.

For the full release, go to: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/February/10-civ-171.html.

For more information about qui tam law and health care fraud, contact Nolan and Auerbach, PA. at http://www.whistleblowerfirm.com.

Respondents indicated their greatest concerns under the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act’s enforcement changes are: an expanded universe of companies potentially liable for FCA violations (24 percent); increased consequences of failing to return overpayments to the government (13 percent); extended whistleblower protections to non-employees (12 percent); and revived government ability to use Civil Investigative Demands (11 percent).

Approximately two-thirds (66 percent) of respondents were unaware that private qui tam plaintiffs — or whistleblowers — can bring suits under the FCA on behalf of the U.S. government against companies misusing government funds and keep a share of recovered funds.

Respondents expect that the financial services (44 percent) and health care and life sciences (23 percent) industries will see the highest increase in litigation resulting from increased Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act, as well as FCA enforcement activity.

More than 800 business professionals from the banking and securities, consumer and industrial products, energy, resources and power, financial services, health care and life sciences, public sector technology, media and telecommunications and manufacturing industries responded to the online polling questions during an October 2009 Deloitte webcast.

For the full release, go to: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/deloitte-poll-nearly-two-thirds-of-business-professionals-expect-uptick-in-recovered-government-funds-82784237.html.

For more information about qui tam law and health care fraud, contact Nolan and Auerbach, PA. at http://www.whistleblowerfirm.com/.

The U.S. contends that Nursing Personnel Home Care knowingly supplied aides with phony training certificates to Extended Home Care and Excellent Home Care, which then billed New York Medicaid for the aides’ services. Allegedly, Extended Home Care and Excellent Home Care knowingly billed for aides with phony certificates who were untrained, and Extended Home Care and Excellent Home Care knowingly submitted claims to the Medicare program for home health aide services purportedly rendered by aides supplied by Nursing Personnel Home Care that were not actually provided.

The U.S. is receiving about $9.7 million as a result of the settlement with these three companies, and the state of New York is receiving about $14.3 million, for a total recovery of $24 million.

The allegations resolved by these settlements were initiated by two lawsuits filed under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act.

For the full press release, go to: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2009/December/09-civ-1362.html.

For more information about qui tam law and health care fraud, contact Nolan and Auerbach, PA. 

For more information about qui tam law and health care fraud, contact Nolan and Auerbach, PA .

This settlement resolves allegations that Covenant submitted false claims to Medicare by having financial relationships with five physicians that violated the Stark Law. The United States alleged that Covenant violated the Stark Law by paying commercially unreasonable compensation, far above fair market value, to five employed physicians who referred their patients to Covenant for treatment. These physicians were among the highest paid hospital-employed physicians not just in Iowa, but in the entire United States, according to the DOJ.

For the full press release, go to: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/August/09-civ-849.html.

For more information about qui tam law and health care fraud, contact Nolan and Auerbach, PA .

The senate unanimously passed the amended bipartisan legislation, according to the release, and the bill is now headed to the President’s desk to be signed into law.

To see the press release, go to iowapolitics.com

For more information about Qui Tam law and Health Care Fraud, contact Nolan and Auerbach, PA.

To read the press release and the senator’s statement, go to http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200904/042209a.html.

For more information about qui tam law and health care fraud, contact Nolan and Auerbach, PA.

Grassley says in his April 20, 2009, statement that special interests are surfacing, who don’t want to encourage whistleblowers to report wrongdoing and are looking to squelch the bill.

The point: We can’t keep spending, as a nation, without taking steps to combat fraud and abuse. The Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act not only ensures that law enforcement officials and prosecutors have the tools and resources necessary to enforce our laws, but it also amends the civil False Claims Act to ensure that taxpayer money lost to fraud, waste or abuse can be recovered.

The legislation, most importantly, will ensure that the law adheres to the FCA’s original intent.

“Specifically, these amendments address a loophole that was created in the FCA by the Supreme Court decision in Allison Engine which could be used by fraudfeasors to evade liability by hiring subcontractors to perform work on government contracts.  Some defendants are already filing briefs in court seeking to have FCA cases dismissed based upon this decision, and it needs to be addressed to protect taxpayer dollars,” Grassley writes.

“We need to act now to stomp out new claims of fraud to send a message that the American taxpayers won’t be taken for a ride.”

To read the entire statement, go to: http://grassley.senate.gov/news/Article.cfm?customel_dataPageID_1502=20209.

For more information about qui tam law and health care fraud, contact Nolan and Auerbach, PA .

In the letter, the coalition asks the president to strongly endorse legislation that would protect from retaliation of federal employees who expose waste, fraud, abuse, suppression of federal research, and threats to public health and safety, and give them access to jury trials. The legislation would also direct federal government agency heads to institute “no-retaliation” policies for employees.

The groups are concerned that a signing statement issued by the president on March 11, attached to H.R. 1105, the omnibus spending bill, contradicts those earlier steps and could have a chilling affect on lawful whistleblowing disclosures, according to a press release about the letter on Project on Government Oversight’s website.

To read the letter, click here. For a copy of the POGO press release, go to http://www.pogo.org/pogo-files/alerts/whistleblower-issues/wi-wp-20090401.html.

For more information about qui tam law, whisleblowers and health care fraud, contact Nolan and Auerbach, PA.

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