First Circuit Revives Whistleblower Suit Against PharMerica, Rejecting Public Disclosure Challenge
Posted 02/28/20
Rejecting an argument that only a fraudster could love, the First Circuit Court of Appeals revived a whistleblower’s lawsuit and rightly recognized that whistleblowers can have “direct” knowledge of fraud even if they did not themselves participate in the fraud. In United States ex rel. Banigan & Templin, et al. v. PharMerica, Inc., the First Circuit interpreted the so-called “original source” provision of...
This week's DOJ Catch of the Week goes to Guardian Elder Care. On Wednesday, the operator of more than 50 nursing homes in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia agreed to pay roughly $15.5 million to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act by billing the government -- Medicare and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program -- for medically unnecessary rehabilitation therapy services. According to...
Catch of the Week: Practice Fusion Pays $145 Million for EHR Kickbacks and Misrepresentations about Software
Posted 01/28/20
Healthcare providers talk about the importance of behavioral “nudges” – gentle pushes to encourage healthy choices and positive behaviors. In our Catch of the Week, healthcare providers were nudged to prescribe highly addictive extended-release opioids in a manner that was not consistent with accepted medical standards. Who nudged them? Their own electronic health records system, which was paid to do so by the...
Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team’s Top-Ten “Staff Picks” of 2019
Posted 01/27/20
From cybersecurity, cryptocurrency, and “big data” to private-equity backed healthcare, private detention facilities, and the essential whistleblower experience – your prolific and relentless CC WB bloggers have chosen some of their favorite 2019 posts (and one from 2018) – don’t miss these insider-favorite gems!
Your worst nightmare – private data exposed to the unscrupulous – could be curbed...
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 again, most of the funds recovered arose from cases originated by whistleblowers under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. Not surprisingly, seven of the top ten spots in our list involved false claims act lawsuits against drug companies...
Our Catch of the Week goes to Avanir Pharmaceuticals, manufacturer of Nuedexta, for allegedly paying kickbacks to physicians and engaging in false and misleading marketing tactics. Avanir allegedly marketed Nuedexta in long-term care facilities and targeted their sales tactics to encourage doctors to prescribe the drug to dementia patients for off-label uses. The pharma company agreed to pay over $108 million in...
Florida Pharma Whistleblower Case Results in FCA Settlement by Private Equity Firm
Posted 09/27/19
Last week, the government announced that compounding pharmacy Diabetic Care Rx LLC, known as Patient Care America (“PCA”), its executives, and the private equity firm managing the pharmacy Riordan, Lewis & Haden Inc., had agreed to pay over $21 million to settle allegations they violated the False Claims Act (“FCA”) by executing a kickback scheme to generate referrals of TRICARE patients. The allegations...
Question of the Week — Should Drug Companies that Defraud the Government Lose Their Patents?
Posted 09/18/19
Settlements between drug companies and the government are commonplace these days. Just last week the DOJ announced another settlement with a pharmaceutical company, Mallinckrodt, for allegedly paying kickbacks to doctors to induce them to prescribe more of the company’s drug. The company was accused of violating the Anti-Kickback Statute, which generally prohibits medical providers from paying or receiving...
Catch of the Week – Mallinckrodt Pays for Kickbacks on Acthar; Investigation into Copayment Subsidies Continues
Posted 09/6/19
This week, the Department of Justice announced that pharmaceutical company Mallinckrodt ARD LLC had agreed to pay over $15 million to resolve allegations that it paid illegal kickbacks to physicians to induce them to prescribe Acthar.
AKS Allegations
Two whistleblower lawsuits brought under the False Claims Act against Mallinckrodt alleged that from 2009 to 2013, the pharma company, then known as Questcor,...