On April 1, 2015, the SEC announced its first whistleblower protection case involving restrictive confidentiality language. The agency charged the Houston-based engineering and technology firm KBR, Inc., with using overly restrictive language in confidentiality agreements that allegedly obstructed the whistleblowing process.
The provision at issue contained language that witnesses in certain internal investigations could be disciplined,
Speaking at a Fordham University School of Law event on Friday, March 6, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara said that whistleblower bounties and leniency agreements could be useful tools for uncovering public corruption. Bharara is the latest law enforcer to endorse the benefits of rewarding tipsters who come forward with information about misconduct.
The official founding of a Senate Whistleblower Protection Caucus was announced on February 25, 2015 by Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA). This is a cross-party group of senators created by Senators Chuck Grassley (chairman), Ron Wyden (D-OR) (vice-chairman), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Barbara Boxer (D-CA),
In 2014, the total whistleblower recoveries amounted to just shy of $3 billion, $2.2 billion (73 percent) of which were in the health care arena.
When the Department of Justice announces a False Claims Act recovery, they put the total recovery into the headline (the total amount that the fraudster is paying as a result of the FCA action),
The official founding of a Senate Whistleblower Protection Caucus was announced on February 25, 2015 by Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA). This is a cross-party group of senators created by Senators Chuck Grassley (chairman), Ron Wyden (D-OR) (vice-chairman), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Barbara Boxer (D-CA),
Medicare, Part D began in 2006 as a program to get much needed medication to more than 36 million senior citizens and people with disabilities. Billions of needless expense has been added to the program due to lack of oversight and doctors prescribing name brand medications instead of generics. Moreover,
The Justice Department announced that it has reached a $1.25 million settlement with ev3, a medical device manufacturer base in in Minnesota. Ev3 formerly was known as Fox Hollow Technologies. A lawsuit filed under the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act alleges that between 2006-2007, Fox Hollow induced 12 hospitals in 9 states to admit patients who were undergoing elective atherectomy procedures.
United States ex rel. Carroll v. Adventist Health Systems, et al., Case No. CV-10-4925 DMR
A settlement in the amount of $2,250,000, payable by St. Helena Hospital, to the United States, stems from allegations that it submitted false claims to Medicare for certain cardiac procedures and related inpatient submissions.
Even as the abuse of prescription drugs has escalated and the national crackdown on it has occurred, new data suggests that doctors are prescribing even larger numbers of prescriptions for the most potent controlled substances to Medicare patients.
And, along with the increase in the number of prescriptions written,
North Atlantic Medical Services Inc. (NAMS), a medical device company that provides equipment and services for treatment of respiratory ailments, reached an agreement to pay $852,378 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act. The Department of Justice announced that NAMS agreed to pay this settlement due to submitting claims to Medicare and Medicaid for services provided by unlicensed personnel.
