Oracle Corp., the world’s second- biggest software maker, faces a lawsuit brought by a whistleblower and the U.S. Justice Department claiming it overcharged the government by tens of millions of dollars. Oracle failed to disclose discounts that it gave its most favored commercial customers, according to a complaint in federal court in Alexandria,
Advanced BioNutrition Corporation, of Columbia, Maryland, and its former chief executive officer, David Kyle, paid the federal government $934,000, stemming from violations of the False Claims Act, federal prosecutors said Thursday. Advanced BioNutrition Corporation was awarded the first phase of a National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research grant in February 2005 to develop technology to micro-encapsulate probiotic bacteria into particles.
The Health Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, two of its member hospitals (The Fort Hamilton Hospital and The University Hospital), and University Internal Medicine Associates Inc. have agreed to pay the United States $2.6 million to settle claims that they violated the Anti-Kickback Statute and the False Claims Act by engaging in a kickback-for-referral scheme,
The owner and the vice president of a Detroit-area physical therapy clinic were convicted on June 22, 2010, by a federal jury for their roles in a $23 million Medicare fraud scheme, announced the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services.
Evidence at trial established that Wayne County Therapeutic Inc.
A New York dermatologist settled a false claim lawsuit against him for $2.75 million. The physician was able to collect higher reimbursements from Medicaid by classifying himself as a primary care physician instead of as a dermatologist, allowing him to collect fees for services not actually provided.
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The Office of Inspector General is seeking new powers from Congress to exclude offending corporate executives from Medicare if their companies committed healthcare fraud. Under current law, OIG can only seek to bar executives from working for the companies that committed fraud. However, they are still able to work for other companies in the healthcare industry.
Cochlear America, a manufacturer of cochlear implants, has settled a false claims case against it, alleging that it made illegal payments to health care providers to induce the purchase of its implant systems. Cochlear implants are small, complex electronic devices that can help to provide a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard-of-hearing.
Johnson and Johnson filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit against it under the False Claims Act for allegedly paying kickbacks to Omnicare, Inc to push Johnson & Johnson drugs to nursing home patients. Omnicare earlier settled a lawsuit against it for $98 million for accepting such kickbacks, although Omnicare denied liability.
The Florida Attorney General settled claims under the state’s false claims act against Office Depot for allegedly overcharging government offices for supplies. The case was settled for $4.5 million. As part of the settlement, the state of Florida will also be reimbursed an additional $1.3 million for its investigative and legal expenses.
The Department of Health and Human Services has begun a policy to eject executive of companies guilty of healthcare fraud if they were in a position to stop the fraud from occurring. The HHS policy reflects frustration with repeat offenders of healthcare fraud and acknowledges that while the government must continue to do business with some companies,
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.