On April 24, 2012, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule requiring stronger protections against fraudsters. The final rule allows only qualified, identifiable providers and suppliers to order or certify medical services, equipment, and supplies for Medicare beneficiaries.
CMS will be diligently verifying provider credentials.
On April 20, 2012, the Department of Justice announced that Walgreens, a national retail pharmacy chain has paid the United States and affiliated states a $7.9 million settlement to resolve allegations that the pharmacy violated the False Claims Act.
On Thursday, April 26, 2012, Stuart F. Delery, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division; New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman; and Daniel R. Levinson, Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that the McKesson Corporation has agreed to pay the United States a $190 million settlement to resolve allegations that the company violated the False Claims Act.
On April 24, 2012, the Justice Department announced that a lawsuit was filed by the Unites States and whistleblower, John Dickson under the qui tam, provisions of the False Claims Act. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.
In a Qui Tam False Claims Act suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, ATK Launch Systems Inc., has agreed to pay the United States $21 million and provide necessary in-kind services worth $15,967,160 in reparation costs for 76,000 malfunctioning para-flares that were sold to the government.
On April 23, 2012, the United States Department of Justice announced that Anthony Allega Cement Contractor, Inc., a Cleveland based construction firm, has agreed to pay $500,000 to the U.S. government to resolve allegations under the False Claims Act.
On Thursday, Sprint Nextel Corp., the third largest mobile service provider in the United States, was sued by the state of New York for over $300 million for allegations of tax fraud.
A spokesperson of Merck Sharp & Dohme announced that the company agreed to plead guilty to one count of misbranding Vioxx. The unit of Merck & Co., the second-largest U.S. drug maker, plead guilty to a criminal misdemeanor charge as part of a $950 million settlement of a U.S. government probe of its illegal marketing of the painkiller Vioxx.
After an Arkansas jury found that Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) company officials misled doctors and patients about the risks of one of their drugs, a judge ruled that JNJ must pay more than $1.1 billion in fines. The drug was an antipsychotic medication called Risperdal. The jury had concluded that J&J’s marketing of this particular drug violated both Medicare fraud laws and Arkansas’s deceptive trade practices statutes.
The Justice Department announced on April 3, 2012 that Radiotherapy Clinics of Georgia LLC, a radiation oncology practice, and its affiliates RCOG Cancer Centers LLC, Physician Oncology Services Management Company LLC, Frank A. Critz, M.D. and Physician Oncology Services L.P. (jointly, RCOG) agreed to pay $3.8 million to settle claims that they violated the False Claims Act.
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.