On May 24, 2010, an Irvine physician, Xinming Fu, was sentenced for his role in a scheme which bilked Medicare out of $15 million in unnecessary respiratory treatments which were not performed in accordance with the Medicare rules or not performed at all. Dr. Fu, who was sentenced to thirty (30) months in federal prison,
On March 26, 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc. (“Bell”) will pay the United States an additional $3,718,770 to resolve several claims arising from cost charging practices on its contracts with the U.S. government. This additional amount brings the total money to be paid by Bell to $16,570,018.
Ceradyne, Inc., a subcontractor for Sikorsky Aircraft, agreed to pay the federal government $1.2 million to settle a False Claims Act suit for failing to ballistically test armor plating installed near the pilot and co-pilot in Black Hawk helicopters. Ceradyne’s settlement comes a little over a year after Sikorsky itself paid $2.9 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations stemming from the same inadequate armor plating.
Christiana Care Health System (CCHS) has agreed to pay the United States and the State of Delaware $3.3 Million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit that alleged that CCHS paid kickbacks to, and entered into improper self-referral relationships, with a physicians’ practice located in New Castle, Delaware.
The Houston Independent School District has agreed to relinquish millions of dollars in requests for federal funds and to pay a total of $850,000 as part of a civil settlement relating to allegations that the school district violated the False Claims Act in connection with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) E-Rate Program, the Justice Department recently announced.
The United States and the State of New York have entered into settlement agreements with three home health agencies to resolve allegations that the agencies submitted false claims to the New York Medicaid and Medicare Programs.
The New York Medicaid Program provides coverage for home health aides only if those aides have valid certificates showing that they received proper training.
St. John’s Health System, headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has agreed to pay the United States $13,229,348.88 to settle allegations that it submitted claims to Medicare and Medicaid that were tainted by the hospital’s financial relationships with referring physicians.
Federal law prohibits health care providers like St. John’s from billing the federal healthcare program for referrals from doctors with whom the providers have a financial relationship,
Chevron Corporation, Texaco, Unocal, Inc. and their affiliates (the Chevron Companies), have agreed to pay the United States $45,569.584.74 to resolve claims that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly underpaying royalties owed on natural gas produced from federal and Indian leases.
Responsibility for overseeing the collection of royalties on federal and Indian leases lies with the Minerals Management Service (MMS) of the U.S.
The Visiting Physicians Association (“VPA”), which provides home health services in Michigan, Ohio, Georgia and Wisconsin, will pay the United States and the state of Michigan $9.5 million to settle allegations that the VPA violated the False Claims Act by submitting false claims to Medicare, TRICARE and the Michigan Medicaid program.
The Department of Justice announced that Spectranetics Corporation, a medical device manufacturer, has agreed to pay the United States $4.9 million in civil damages plus a $100,000.00 forfeiture to resolve various claims against the company. Spectranetics sells certain types of medical lasers and peripheral devices for those lasers. The claims against Spectranetics arose from allegations that the company engaged in several inappropriate acts from 2003 to 2008,
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.