William Pietragallo, II, founding partner of the law firm of Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick and Raspanti, LLP was selected as a Pittsburgh Top 50 Lawyer by Super Lawyers 2012. Marc S. Raspanti, partner in the law firm of Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick and Raspanti, LLP, was selected as a Philadelphia Top 100 Lawyer and a Top 100 Lawyer in Pennsylvania by Super Lawyers 2012.
The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania has allowed a False Claims Act suit against Pittsburgh-based Education Management Corp. to proceed. The complaint, which was originally brought by two whistleblowers, alleged that Education Management Corporation had violated the Higher Education Act’s prohibition on paying incentives to college recruiters based on the number of students they are able to recruit to an educational institution.
The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York has announced that Lenox Hill Hospital will pay $11.75 million dollars to settle a civil health care fraud lawsuit.
The federal government accused Lenox Hospital of fraudulently inflating its charges for services provided to Medicare patients in order to obtain higher supplemental reimbursements that Medicare pays to health care providers in cases where the cost of care is unusually high.
On May 3, 2012, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee announced that a number of dialysis centers in the Knoxville, Tennessee area had agreed to pay $4.36 million to resolve allegations that they had violated the federal False Claims Act, the Tennessee Medicaid False Claims Act and other federal and state laws and regulations.
On May 7, 2012, the Justice Department announced that Abbott Laboratories, Inc. has pled guilty to allegations arising out of its promotion of the prescription drug, Depakote.
Abbott Labs was charged with promoting the drug for uses which had not been approved as safe and effective by the Food and Drug Administration.
In April 2012, Diane Boerman a senior accounts clerk at the Sacramento Public Library reached a $343,000 confidential settlement in her retaliation lawsuit against the library. Boerman blew the whistle on a kickback scheme that ultimately sent three people to prison.
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.
