Whistleblower News From The Inside — October 16, 2015
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
Hospice company AseraCare loses first round of False Claims trial — A jury in Alabama delivered a blow to AseraCare on Thursday when it found 104 of 121 hospice claims were false or unsupported in a case seeking to determine whether the hospice provider admitted Medicare beneficiaries who were not eligible for end-of-life care, sending “a very strong signal to the for-profit hospice industry that they need to be very careful in who is making their eligibility determinations, and that they’re doing that in a way that complies with all of the government standards.” Modern Healthcare
Idaho joins NuVasive whistleblower suit — Idaho has joined with other states and the federal government to settle allegations that NuVasive, Inc. caused health care providers to submit false claims to Medicaid and other federal health care programs for spine surgeries. Idaho AG
Operators of medical equipment supply company convicted in fraud scheme — California-based JC Medical Supply, a durable medical equipment supply company, were convicted for paying illegal kickbacks to patient recruiters in exchange for patient referrals and to physicians for fraudulent prescriptions, which the defendants then used to support $1.5m in fraudulent bills to Medicare. DOJ
Whistleblower releases documents into U.S. military’s drone program — In a 8-part series titled “The Drone Papers,” an online news site obtained a cache of classified documents from an anonymous whistleblower that offer a glimpse into the internal process of the U.S. military’s drone operations. PBS
Former Fox News commentator arrested and charged with fraud — Wayne Simmons, a frequent guest on Fox News who has professed to be an expert on covert operations at the CIA, has been arrested for falsely claiming he worked as an “Outside Paramilitary Special Operations Officer” for the CIA from 1973 to 2000, and used that false claim to gain traction with the media and in an attempt to obtain government security clearances and work as a defense contractor. FBI