California Govenor, Jerry Brown, recently signed into law AB 2492, amending California’s False Claims Act to “better conform it to requirements of the federal False Claims Act.”
The amended law becomes effective on January 1st, 2013. Some of the key changes include an award of up to 50% for the whistleblower from the proceeds ultimately paid out by the defendant.
Please RSVP to Sarah Bentzel at SLB@Pietragallo.com or 215.988.1469
by October 25th, 2012.
Background
On September 5, 2012, the Second Circuit issued its decision in U.S. ex rel. Feldman v. Van Gorp., 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 18667 (2nd Cir. Sept. 5, 2012), a case with important implications for the “materiality” standard under the False Claims Act (“FCA”) as well as the issue of how to properly calculate FCA damages.
Dennis Lerner, a former international examiner in the New York office of the IRS, has been charged by federal officials with disclosing the identity of a whistleblower.
Shortly prior to his resignation from the IRS, Lerner conducted an audit of an international bank related to approximately $1 billion in allegedly unreported income.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia announced that it has reached a settlement with Georgia Cancer Specialists I, PC, which agreed to pay $4.1 million to settle claims that it violated the False Claims Act by billing Medicare for evaluation and management services that were not permitted by Medicare rules.
According to federal officials, Pinnacle Medical Solutions, a Mississippi medical equipment company, has agreed to pay nearly $1.8 million to settle claims in a 2009 whistleblower lawsuit that the company bilked government insurance groups out of money for delivery of diabetic supplies to patients. The suit was filed by two former employees who can receive between 15% and 25% of the money recovered.
Applied Research Associates, a New Mexico-based defense contractor with offices in Vermont, will pay $1.1 million to settle billing fraud charges, according to federal prosecutors. The prosecutors learned of the issue after a company engineer filed a lawsuit last year under the False Claims Act. The employee reportedly will collect $220,000.
In the largest settlement in Medi-Cal history, SCAN, a provider of health care and support services in Southern California for the elderly and disabled, will pay $323.67 million to settle allegations that they failed to provide contractually required financials to the Department of Healthcare Services (“DHCS”). By failing to turn over the financials,
HCA, one of the largest for-profit hospital chains nationwide, has agreed to pay the United States and the state of Tennessee $16.5 million to settle allegations arising from its Parkridge Medical Center facility in Chattanooga. A financial arrangement between Parkridge Medical Center and physician group Diagnostic Associates of Chattanooga triggered the allegations that Parkridge violated the False Claims Act and the Stark Statute.
A Los Angeles area physician assistant, David James Garrison, has been sentenced to 72 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for stealing the identity of physicians to prescribe medically unnecessary prescriptions for durable medical equipment (“DME”) and diagnostic tests. He has also been ordered to pay $24,935 in restitution.
If you are aware of any person, corporation or entity that you think may be violating the Federal False Claims Act or a State False Claims Act, contact us today.