The Justice Department announced today that Community Health Systems Inc. (CHS), the nation’s largest operator of acute care hospitals, has agreed to pay $98.15 million to resolve multiple lawsuits alleging that the company knowingly billed government health care programs for inpatient services that should have been billed as outpatient or observation services.
Effective July 25, 2014, The Department of Defense, General Services Administration, and NASA have implemented as a final with changes, an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to adopt a section of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2013. The rule addressed permissible legal costs incurred by a contractor or subcontractor related to a whistleblower proceeding brought by the submission of a complaint of reprisal by the contractor or subcontractor.
On Tuesday, July 22, 2014, a federal judge in Pittsburgh approved a settlement in which a Virginia-based medical research firm will pay $343,000 to the U.S. to settle claims that it defrauded the government by improperly marketing genetic tests to patients at a Green County medical office.
A fraud suit alleging that five hospitals in the south bribed local clinics to refer undocumented immigrants to the hospitals to give birth has survived a motion to dismiss.
In the suit, captioned U.S. ex rel. Williams v. Health Management Associates (M.D. Ga.
The Eleventh Circuit has turned back an appeal from a nursing-home operator convicted of healthcare fraud after he billed government programs while his residents went without food, diapers and medication.
The case, United States v.
Seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong has been no match so far for the False Claims Act.
A Washington, D.C., federal judge on Friday denied Armstrong’s request to dismiss the FCA suit brought against him by former teammate Floyd Landis and the federal government. The suit alleges fraud against the U.S.
US Dist. Court for the Middle District of Georgia, Athens Division
While this is a straightforward and simple kickback case (kickback for the referral of undocumented pregnant women eligible for Medicaid), The Order “knocks down multiple motions to dismiss and does it with a flourish and in detail.” Both DOJ and the State of Georgia intervened in this case.
This month, The Third Circuit, became the latest appeals court to reject a stricter pleading standard typically applied by four circuits when interpreting Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b), which states that fraud suits must describe misconduct “with particularity,” demanding that complaints include samples of actual false claims.
Under the Lanham Act, one can bring a suit claiming that the defendant has engaged in unfair competition by using misleading advertising or labeling. The Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (“FDCA”) prohibits, among other things, the misbranding of food and drink. Under the FDCA, the United States is generally the only one who can initiate an action against someone who has used false or misleading labeling.
Education Management Corp.’s efforts to dismiss two whistleblowers from a multibillion-dollar lawsuit were turned down by a federal judge on Wednesday, June 18th. EDMC argued that the whistleblowers only initiated accusations due to reading articles about concerns regarding for-profit colleges and that wouldn’t entitle someone to whistleblower status.
