The Justice Department announced that Ashland Hospital Corp. d/b/a King’s Daughters Medical Center (KDMC) has agreed to pay nearly $41 million for needless medical procedures, between 2006 and 2011, including coronary stents and diagnostic catherizations that were submitted falsely to the Kentucky Medicaid and federal Medicare programs. It is also alleged that the hospital had a prohibited financial relationship with physician to refer patients to the hospital.
A United States Magistrate Judge in the Middle District of Florida has recommended that Halifax Hospital Medical Center (“Halifax”) be sanctioned for “reprehensible” discovery abuses.
Astellas Pharma US Inc. has agreed to pay $7.3 million to resolve claims that it marketed and promoted Mycamine for pediatric use from 2005 through 2010, in violation of the False Claims Act. During that period, Mycamine was approved to treat serious fungal infections in adults. State Medicaid programs will receive $3.1 million of the settlement monies and the remaining $4.2 million will be paid to the federal government.
The Hope Cancer Institute, based in Kansas City, Kansas, and its Director, Dr. Raj Sadasivan, will pay $2.9 million to resolve a lawsuit filed by three former employees of the under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.
The IRS today released to the U.S. Senate its annual update on its whistleblower program, which was characterized by numerous attorneys quoted in Sunday’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as a failure.
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that the whistleblower who received the first award under the agency’s new whistleblower program will receive an additional $150,000 payout after the SEC collected additional funds in the case. The whistleblower…has now been awarded a total of nearly $200,000 since the award was announced on Aug.
Golden First Mortgage and its owner must face claims that their lies about regulatory compliance cost taxpayers $12 million, a federal judge ruled.
Whistleblower, Keith Edwards, will recover $63.9 million for his false claims act lawsuit in which he revealed that J.P. Morgan Chase had submitted thousands of mortgages for governmental insurance through the Federal Housing Authority and Veterans Administration that did not qualify for those government guarantees. The government ultimately had to cover for these loans when they defaulted.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently published an in-depth article on the growth of local false claims act cases and the whistleblowers behind them. The article focused on efforts of Dave Hickton, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, who has diverted more of his office’s resources to false claims act cases.
Endo Health and its subsidiary Endo Pharmaceuticals will pay $192 million to settle false claims act after whistleblower uncovered off-label marketing of Lidoderm. The FDA only approved Lidoderm for treatment of a complication of shingles. The company required its sales staff to market the drug for unapproved ailments including low-back pain and carpal tunnel syndrome.
