Category: State False Claims Acts
A Bill currently pending before the Washington State Senate would enact a Medicaid False Claims Act to protect against false claims made to the Washington State Medicaid Program. Senate Bill Number 5458 would, like the federal False Claims Act, encourage private whistleblowers (known as qui tam “relators”) to step forward and file a lawsuit against those who submit false claims for payment to the Washington State Medicaid Program.
New York State recently settled claims against Young Adult Institute (YAI), a provider of residential services for developmentally disabled adults for $18 million. Under government sponsored programs, New York State reimbursed YAI for losses sustained in operating its state programs. The state charged YAI with inflating its losses by attributing additional expenses unrelated to the state programs to the losses in order to inflate the amount to be reimbursed,
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is advocating for a state false claims act similar to the federal act. DeWine recognized the benefits of having a state false claims act, having recovered $10 million as its share of a recent FCA settlement with CareSource of Dayton under the Federal False Claims Act.
In a January 24, 2011 letter to U.S. Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, representatives from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) and the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) detailed their efforts in combating health care fraud. The letter noted that Fiscal Year 2010 was a banner year during which 931 health care fraud defendants were charged,
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on February 1, 2011 that three companies, CareSource, CareSource Management Group Co., and CareSource USA Holding Co., agreed to pay the United States and the State of Ohio $26 million to resolve allegations that they induced Medicaid to pay for assessments and case managements,
On October 26, 2010, the Washington State Investment Board announced that it will receive $11.7 million in a settlement with its former master custodian, State Street Bank. The dispute between the Board and State Street concerned the execution of certain foreign exchange transactions by the bank on behalf of the Investment Board,
Johnson & Johnson was required to pay $257.7 million to the state of Louisiana for wrongfully marketing the antipsychotic drug Risperdal. The case centered on claims that J&J and Ortho-McNeil Janssen sent correspondence letters in 2003 to 700,000 doctors which labeled Risperdal as safer then its competitors and minimized its links to diabetes.
Petricca Construction Company, a Massachusetts-based contractor, was allegedly involved in construction fraud and violating the Massachusetts False Claims Act. A new lawsuit filed by the Massachusetts Attorney General claims that Petricca falsely certified compliance with contracts that required Petricca to use minority- and woman-owned businesses for work equal to a certain value of the contract.
The Massachusetts Attorney General settled claims of off label marketing with medical device maker, Stryker Biotech. The state claimed that Stryker violated state consumer protection laws by falsifying documents from Massachusetts hospitals’ Institutional Review Boards in order to obtain get approval for the use of its bone growth products. Thus,
On August 16, 2010, New York Governor David A. Paterson signed into law legislation strengthening New York’s False Claims Act. The New York False Claims Act allows individuals to bring civil actions (“qui tam”) on behalf of the state to recover fraudulent payments and overpayments made to third-party suppliers of goods and services.
