Whistleblower Exposes What Could be Massive Medi-Cal Fraud Scheme

Nolan and Auerbach — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:09:18 +0000

The State of California has joined a qui tam action against seven private laboratories to recover hundreds of millions of dollars in false claims submitted to the state’s Medi-Cal program for the poor, according to a March 20 press release by the California Office of Attorney General.

The lawsuit contends that the medical labs systematically overcharged the Medi-Cal program during the past 15 years. The defendants, including Quest Diagnostics and Laboratory Corporation of America, allegedly engaged in illegal kickbacks and overcharging the state by up to 400% for blood, urine and other lab tests. It is estimated that damages could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars.

Filed under California’s False Claims Act, the qui tam lawsuit asks for relief in the amount of triple the amount of California’s damages, civil penalties of $10,000 for each false claim; and recovery of costs, attorneys’ fees and expenses.

This is one of the largest, if not the largest, single state qui tam intervention against multiple laboratories, in history.

To read the full press release, go to: http://ag.ca.gov/newsalerts/release.php?id=1705&. For more about qui tam law and Healthcare Fraud, contact Nolan and Auerbach, PA.

False Certification Case Settled for $9 million

Nolan and Auerbach — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 14:48:16 +0000

This case settlement is a recent example of false claims act liability based upon false certification. Although this is not a healthcare fraud case, we point out that false certification in the healthcare fraud field is still probably going strong and the basis for liability.

To see a brief story, click here.

Qui Tam 101 » Legal Information

Whistleblower Exposes What Could be Massive Medi-Cal Fraud Scheme

False Certification Case Settled for $9 million