Wheaton Community Hospital, the City of Wheaton (MN), and Dr. Stanley Gallagher have agreed to pay the United States $846,461.00 to settle allegations that their hospital admission practices violated the False Claims Act. In particular, the suit against Wheaton Community Hospital, the City, and Dr. Gallagher alleged that they admitted some patients and kept others admitted to acute care when doing so was not medically necessary.
Genesys Health System, a Michigan-based health care service provider, has agreed to pay the United States $669,413.00 to settle allegations that it submitted false claims to Medicare. Specifically, a whistleblower’s qui tam suit alleged that from 2001 through 2007, Genesys repeatedly billed Medicare for higher levels of service than were actually provided to the company’s cardiology patients.
On December 11, 2009, the United States House of Representatives approved The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (H.R. 4173). The legislation is aimed at reforming the financial services industry in the wake of the recent economic crisis. Significantly, the legislation contains a whistleblower incentive program.
An orthopaedic sports medicine clinic in Los Angeles, California, has agreed to pay $3 million to the United States government to settle allegations that it received illegal kickbacks from HealthSouth Corporation.
A state whistleblower claim brought under California’s False Claims Act settled for $39 million last month, bringing to almost $60 million the total recovery that California water districts and municipalities, including the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles, have recovered because of excessive lead levels in water valves and fittings manufactured by James Jones Company LLC.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on November 19 finding that contractors falsely claiming to be run by disabled military veterans have defrauded the government of at least $100 million since 2003. Congress established goals for the distribution of a certain portion of federal contracts to small businesses that are owned and operated by vets injured in the course of active duty.
Earlier this week, the United States Department of Justice announced that it had secured $2.4 billion in settlements and judgments in cases involving fraud against the government in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2009.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts announced the settlement of multiple false claims act cases against Omnicare, Inc. of Covington, Kentucky, for $98 million for soliciting and receiving multiple kickbacks.
The US Department of Justice filed a lawsuit under the False Claims Act against defense contractor Kaman Dayron, Inc. for allegedly substituting non-conforming parts in sophisticated ignition devices supplied in “bunker buster” bombs.
The manufacturer of devices for treatment of atrial fibrillation (irregular heartbeats) tentatively settled with the US Department of Justice allegations of false claims for $3.8 million. The DOJ claimed that the manufacturer, AtriCure, marketed its devices beyond the scope of its FDA clearance and by instructing hospitals to use incorrect Medicare billing codes.
