Category: Federal False Claims Act
What Happened?
On November 19, 2018, the Alberta Securities Commission, the regulatory agency responsible for administering Alberta’s securities laws, implemented its first whistleblower program through the enactment of ASC Policy 15-602 Whistleblower Program and corresponding amendments to the Alberta Securities Act.
The Background
Before the enactment of ASC Policy 15-602 Whistleblower Program,
On November 30, 2018, the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a noteworthy report that the implementation of new rates for laboratory testing may lead to billions of dollars in overpayments to labs. The GAO concluded that while CMS’s new clinical lab fee schedule was supposed to save hundreds of millions of dollars,
What Happened?
In seeking to limit the abuse of whistleblower legislation, the United Kingdom enacted the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act of 2013, which amended the Public Interest Disclosure Act of 1998, and mandated that all disclosures of misconduct be made in the “public interest.”
The Background
In 1998,
The Event
On November 30, 2017, the Italian Government enacted Law 179: “Provisions for the protection of whistleblowers who report offences or irregularities which have come to their attention in the context of a public or private employment relationship.” This Law established the first set of whistleblower protections in the private sector in all of Italian legislative history.
PHILADELPHIA, PA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced on Friday, October 26, 2018, that global healthcare giant Abbott Laboratories (“Abbott”) has executed a settlement agreement and will pay $25 million to settle a non-intervened whistleblower lawsuit alleging that it illegally promoted its blockbuster cholesterol drug Tricor for off-label uses and paid kickbacks to prescribing physicians.
What Happened?
On December 9, 2016, the French Parliament enacted Sapin II: “the law on transparency, the fight against corruption and the modernization of economic life.” This marked the first time in French history that a whistleblower was offered protection in an anti-corruption case.
The Issue
On September 7, 2018, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decided a previously unanswered question regarding the False Claims Act (FCA) in United States ex rel. Vaughn: can a non-intervening Government plaintiff be dismissed without prejudice in FCA cases where the relator voluntarily dismisses its qui tam claims with prejudice?
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit recently ruled on a case involving 5 defendants accused of health care fraud in their operation of a jointly-owned urinalysis company.
Urinalysis is frequently used by drug treatment centers and behavioral health hospitals as a way to monitor recovering addicts’ progress toward sobriety and track permissible medications.
What Happened?
In United States ex rel. Rose v. Pjh Stephens Inst., the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s order denying Defendant’s motion for summary judgment, and determined that the two part test created in States ex rel.
Post Acute Medical, LLC and its affiliated entities, operators of long‑term care and rehabilitation hospitals across the country (collectively, “PAM”) have agreed to pay the United States, Texas, and Louisiana more than $13 million dollars to resolve claims that it violated the False Claims Act and similar state laws. The government alleged that the company submitted claims to Medicare and Medicaid that resulted from violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Law.
