The United States and the Commonwealth of Virginia have intervened in a False Claims Act suit in the Western District of Virginia against the Medicaid providers Universal Health Services Inc., Keystone Marion LLC and Keystone Education and Youth Services LLC, the Justice Department announced today. They did business as the Keystone Marion Youth Center,
A hospital group based in McAllen, Texas, has agreed to pay the United States $27.5 million to settle claims that it violated the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Statute between 1999 and 2006, by paying illegal compensation to doctors in order to induce them to refer patients to hospitals within the group,
AstraZeneca PLC announced that it has reached an agreement “in principle” to pay $520 million settle an investigation by the United States Department of Justice into the company’s marketing of schizophrenia drug Seroquel.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia has been leading an investigation into AstraZeneca’s marketing of Seroquel,
The Government Accountability Office has reported that the the Army deviated from established standards in testing conducted last year of ballistic vests that contain hardened ceramic plates that protect the upper bodies of soldiers from enemy bullets and shrapnel. The audit recommends pulling 33,000 ceramic plates from the Army’s inventory of nearly 2 million.
In an attack on the regulation of drug marketing, Allergan, the makers of the antiwrinkle shot Botox, as well as popular Ophthalmic drugs Restasis and Lumigan, have filed a free-speech lawsuit against the federal government. In the Complaint, filed in federal court in Washington, Allergan charged that restrictions on promoting unapproved uses of Botox for medical conditions like spasticity violate the company’s First Amendment rights to speak freely and truthfully with doctors about its drug products.
The United States Department of Justice announced that Harborside Healthcare and HHC Nutrition Services will pay the United States $1.375 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations that the company received kickback and assistance under the guise of sham durable medical equipment (DME) provider. The government alleged that McKesson Corp.,
On October 8, 2009, the Pennsylvania Senate introduced a bill that would enact a Pennsylvania False Claims Act. Senate Bill 1113 would enable the Commonwealth to collect treble damages and a civil penalty of $5,000 to $10,000 per claim from anyone who submits, or causes another to submit, a false or fraudulent claim for payment to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Eli Lilly & Co. agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by South Carolina claiming the company improperly marketed its antipsychotic Zyprexa, averting a trial in which the state planned to seek $6 billion. South Carolina sought reimbursement for the costs of Zyprexa prescriptions and alleged Zyprexa-related illnesses. The state claimed Lilly pushed doctors to prescribe the medication and withheld information about Zyprexa’s side effects such as weight gain.
As of October 1, 2009, 25 States have enacted their own State False Claims Acts. Most of the State False Claims Acts are modeled after the federal False Claims Act, and provide that qui tam whistleblowers can bring claims on behalf of the state. There are, however, important differences between these State False Claims Acts,
The Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) recently issued a report finding widespread problems with the quality of audits conducted by the Defense Contract Audit Agency (“DCAA”). The DCAA under the Department of Defense (DOD) Comptroller plays a critical role in defense contractor oversight by providing auditing, accounting, and financial advisory services in connection with DOD and other federal agency contracts and subcontracts.
