A hospital group based in McAllen, Texas, has agreed to pay the United States $27.5 million to settle claims that it violated the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Statute between 1999 and 2006, by paying illegal compensation to doctors in order to induce them to refer patients to hospitals within the group,
AstraZeneca PLC announced that it has reached an agreement “in principle” to pay $520 million settle an investigation by the United States Department of Justice into the company’s marketing of schizophrenia drug Seroquel.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Philadelphia has been leading an investigation into AstraZeneca’s marketing of Seroquel,
The Government Accountability Office has reported that the the Army deviated from established standards in testing conducted last year of ballistic vests that contain hardened ceramic plates that protect the upper bodies of soldiers from enemy bullets and shrapnel. The audit recommends pulling 33,000 ceramic plates from the Army’s inventory of nearly 2 million.
The United States Department of Justice announced that Harborside Healthcare and HHC Nutrition Services will pay the United States $1.375 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations that the company received kickback and assistance under the guise of sham durable medical equipment (DME) provider. The government alleged that McKesson Corp.,
On October 8, 2009, the Pennsylvania Senate introduced a bill that would enact a Pennsylvania False Claims Act. Senate Bill 1113 would enable the Commonwealth to collect treble damages and a civil penalty of $5,000 to $10,000 per claim from anyone who submits, or causes another to submit, a false or fraudulent claim for payment to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Eli Lilly & Co. agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by South Carolina claiming the company improperly marketed its antipsychotic Zyprexa, averting a trial in which the state planned to seek $6 billion. South Carolina sought reimbursement for the costs of Zyprexa prescriptions and alleged Zyprexa-related illnesses. The state claimed Lilly pushed doctors to prescribe the medication and withheld information about Zyprexa’s side effects such as weight gain.
The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) recently reported an increase in the number of whistleblower complaints it has received under the new IRS Whistleblower Law that was enacted in 2006. The IRS Whistleblower Law enables private individuals to report: (1) underpayments of tax; and (2) persons otherwise guilty of violating the internal revenue laws.
The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) has agreed to pay the government $8.3 Million to settle allegations that it illegally paid kickbacks to cardiologists and caused the submission of false claims to Medicare, according to a press release from the United States Department of Justice. The Government alleged that UMDNJ illegally paid community cardiologists to refer patients to UMDNJ,
Welcome to the False Claims Act – Whistleblowers Blog. The Federal and State Governments spend trillions of dollars each year to fund a wide variety of programs and to purchase vast amounts of goods and services. Some of the larger government programs include: Medicare, Medicaid, Department of Defense-Military Spending, the Troubled Assets Relief Program (“TARP”),
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.