An Arizona-based company, NextCare Inc., has agreed to pay the United States $10 million to settle federal and state allegations that it submitted false claims. NextCare is an owner of a chain of urgent care facilities with locations in Arizona, Colorado, Texas, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia.
NextCare Inc.
Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti, LLP attorneys, Marc S. Raspanti and Pamela C. Brecht had their article “The Tar Heel State Steps Up Its Fight Against Fraud,” published in The Legal Intelligencer on June 26 and June 27, 2012.
The article discusses the North Carolina False Claims Act and the powerful weapon that North Carolinians have to combat fraud against their tax dollars.
The FY 2011 IRS Whistleblower Office report is out and can be read here:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/fy2011_annual_report.pdf
The Justice Department announced on Monday, July 2, 2012 that GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to pay $3 billion in settlements and to plead guilty to criminal charges related to its branding, safety disclosures and price reporting of several drugs. This is the largest fraud settlement in U.S. history to date.
GlaxoSmithKline will pay $1.8 billion to resolve criminal and civil liabilities for off-label marketing,
The Department of Justice announced that the United States Government will receive $8,999,999 from AHS Hospital Corp., Atlantic Health System Inc., and Overlook Hospital, located in New Jersey to resolve False Claims Act allegations. The hospital falsely overbilled Medicare for patients that were considered outpatient or observation patients. The case was filed by former employees of Overlook Hospital and the settlement of $8,999,999,
Abraham Gutterman and his companies, Alliance Capital Metals LLC and AR Goldman Wealth Management, LLC, are barred from the commodities industry by a court order from Judge Marcia G. Cook, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. As a result from a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) complaint associated with a fraudulent gold and oil commodity options scheme,
The United States government will collect $6.1 million from Hospice Care of Kansas LLC and its parent company, Ft. Worth, Texas-based Voyager HospiceCare Inc. as a result to resolve False Claims Act allegations. Former Hospice Care of Kansas nurse, Beverly Landis, under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act revealed that the hospice company was submitting false claims over a course of four years to Medicare for beneficiaries that did not have a terminal prognosis of six months or less.
The Internal Revenue Service’s tax whistle-blower program has been scrutinized by lawyers and politicians. Now, the IRS will evaluate the program and improve its working practices and backlog. According to Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement Steven T. Miller, the guidelines and procedures for managing whistle-blower complaints will be thoroughly examined by the IRS and by various internal and external stakeholders within a 90-day deadline.
The United States Government will collect $5.4 million from the notional ambulance company, Rural/Metro Corp, to settle False Claims Act allegations. The ambulance company was accused of Medicare fraud, which was brought to light by Carl Crawley under seal in U.S. District Court. Daily, Mr. Crawley had witnessed various necessary Medicare documents being forged to bill Medicare and Medicaid for services that did not occur or that were unnecessary.
The United States Government collected $5 million from Christus Spohn Health System Corporation to resolve allegations of improperly admitting patients, which were filed under the False Claims Act.
Located in Texas, six hospitals of the Christus Spohn Health System Corporation falsely claimed outpatients as inpatients to be able to send false billings to Medicare.
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.