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.
More information can be found at: http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100610-711174.
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.
At a panel on Thursday, June 3, 2010, the Deputy Director of the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division, Michael Granston, announced that he expected Congress to enact changes to the Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act of 1986. Also known as the “mini False Claims Act,” the PFCRA enables the government to recover up to $150,000 in administrative proceedings and permit a person to be made to pay up to $5,000 per claim and double the amount falsely claimed.
On Thursday, June 3, 2010, Senior U.S. District Judge Matthew J. Perry, Jr., ruled that Tuomey Healthcare System, based in Sumter, South Carolina, must pay $44,888,651 plus interest received from Medicare under physician contracts in violation of the Stark Law.
On Friday, June 4, 2010, the Department of Justice announced that three entities, St. Jude Medical, Inc., a heart device manufacturer; Parma Community General Hospital; and Norton Healthcare will pay the United States $3,898,300 in response to allegations that St. Jude paid illegal kickbacks to two hospitals to secure heart-device business.
On May 30, 2010, the Dallas Morning News brought to light allegations of decades of Medicare and Medicaid billing fraud at the prestigious University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and its affiliated Parkland Memorial Hospital. The report provided examples of the systemic allegations, including medical residents performing surgeries such as appendectomies and even a leg amputation without faculty or attending physician supervision.
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.