Top Ten State Healthcare and Financial Fraud Recoveries of 2020
Posted 01/8/21
State and local governments are on the front lines of enforcing anti-fraud laws and play a critical role in ensuring that businesses and individuals are held accountable. Whistleblowers with information about corporate misconduct involving healthcare, government procurement, financial regulation, and tax may find that state proceedings offer them the best option.
More than 30 states have False Claims Acts that...
COVID Fraud: New York Pharmacy Owners Indicted on Charges Arising from their Abuse of Emergency Override Billing Codes
Posted 01/7/21
As we have previously written, regulatory changes designed to alleviate logistical and financial pressure on healthcare providers during the COVID-19 crisis, while necessary, can create opportunities for fraudsters. Last month, an indictment in New York revealed a scheme by two pharmacy owners who took advantage of relaxed rules regarding prescription prior authorization and refill timing to overcharge Medicare and...
Consistent with the trend in prior years, the bulk of the Justice Department’s fraud and false claims recoveries in 2019 stemmed from healthcare fraud matters, and with the Biden administration eyeing a bigger role for the federal government in our healthcare system, this trend is likely to accelerate. Most of the funds recovered arose from cases originated by whistleblowers under the qui tam provisions of the False...
Catch of the Week: 345 Charged in $6 Billion National Health Care Fraud and Opioid Takedown
Posted 10/2/20
In the largest health care fraud and opioid enforcement action in the Justice Department’s history, 345 defendants—including more than 100 doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals—face charges for submitting over $6 billion in false or fraudulent claims to federal and private insurers. Defendants stand accused of submitting $4.5 billion in fraudulent claims linked to telemedicine, $845 million...
How Whistleblowers Can Report Fraud Related to Clinical Trials
Posted 09/4/20
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of government-funded scientific and medical research, including clinical trials of vaccines, treatments, and more. We are all potentially at risk if there is fraud and abuse in clinical trials and other research.
Individuals with knowledge of fraud and misconduct in federal grants and clinical trials may be able to bring a whistleblower action for that research...
New Settlement Shows the Power of Whistleblowers to Root out Fraud against Private Insurers
Posted 08/6/20
The nation’s biggest insurers, Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE already incentivize whistleblowers to report fraud. Because those programs are federally-funded, a whistleblower can bring suit under the False Claims Act and share in 15-30% of the recovery. The FCA is a law that allows private individuals alleging fraud against the government to bring a lawsuit in the name of the United States. The law leads to about...
Catch of the Week: Indivior Agrees to Pay $600 Million to Settle Opioid Fraud Case
Posted 07/31/20
The latest in our Catch of the Week series features Indivior Solutions’ (“Indivior”) agreement to pay $600 million to resolve criminal and civil liability associated with the marketing of the opioid-addiction-treatment drug Suboxone. This is in addition to the $1.4 billion resolution with Indivior’s former parent, Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC (“RB Group”) that was previously announced in 2019. Suboxone is a...
Newly Unsealed Whistleblower Lawsuit Alleges Drug Giant McKesson Gave Doctors Illegal Kickbacks in the Form of Free Software
Posted 07/24/20
Constantine Cannon LLP is pleased to announce the unsealing of a whistleblower lawsuit its client brought alleging that drug wholesaler McKesson Corp. and its affiliated companies provided illegal kickbacks in the form of free business services to encourage oncologists and other doctors to buy drugs from McKesson.
The lawsuit alleges that McKesson gave doctors valuable business-management tools geared towards...
Catch of the Week: Novartis Pays $729 Million to Settle Two Kickback Cases on Heels of $345 Million Foreign Bribery Settlement
Posted 07/2/20
This week and last, pharmaceutical manufacturer Novartis reached three settlements involving very different forms of unlawful kickbacks and bribes. First, this week the company agreed to pay a total of $678 million to resolve a New York case alleging that it paid inflated “speaking fees” and provided other incentives to doctors to induce them to prescribe Novartis drugs. Second, Novartis will pay $51.25...
Regeneron: The Government’s Latest Stand against Patient Kickbacks
Posted 06/25/20
This week, Boston-based prosecutors have filed a new False Claims Act case against Regeneron, a pharmaceutical company, alleging that it paid patients kickbacks aiming to steer them into using Regeneron’s macular degeneration drug, Eylea. Regeneron allegedly disguised the kickbacks as charitable contributions to a foundation. Prosecutors say that Regeneron only donated exactly enough money to the foundation, called...