Constantine Cannon And Department of Justice Continue Joint Pursuit Against California Sleep-Clinic Chain

By Jessica T. Moore Constantine Cannon LLP has filed an amended complaint on behalf of a whistleblower alleging multi-faceted fraud on the part of Bay Sleep Clinic and its owners and operators, and billing company Access Medical Consultants.  The filing in United States ex rel. Dresser v. Qualium Corp., et al, Civil Action No. 12-1745 in the Northern District of California, comes on the same day the United States reported that it...

Whistleblower News From The Inside — August 25, 2015

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team  Why phone fraud starts with a silent call -- "They're trying to see: Are they getting a human on the other end? You even cough and it knows you're there."  NPR  Health Care Solutions Network medical director convicted in $63M health care fraud scheme -- According to the evidence, the now-defunct partial hospitalization program billed Medicare and Medicaid for mental health services not medically...

August 24, 2015

The New York Attorney General announced settlement agreements with five defendants in a False Claims Act case that will return more than $8 million to the Medicaid and Medicare programs. The agreements resolve claims that SpecialCare Hospital Management Corporation defrauded Medicaid and Medicare by illegally referring patients to unlicensed drug and alcohol treatment programs in exchange for kickbacks. Investigation of the defendants began after whistleblowers Mathew I. Gelfand, M.D. and...

August 17, 2015

Following a special audit, the Indiana Attorney General has filed a lawsuit against a maintenance product company and a former school maintenance director demanding repayment of nearly $1 million for their illegal bribery and kickbacks scheme that defrauded the Warsaw Community Schools. IN

Whistleblower News From The Inside -- August 10, 2015

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team SEC files amicus brief in support of whistleblower suit by former Bio-Rad GC -- In an amicus curiae brief backing plaintiff Sanford Wadler, the agency argues that employees who raise concerns of corporate misdeeds need not go directly to the authorities with their complaints to qualify for whistleblower protection.  Wadler, who had served as Bio-Rad's GC for over 20 years, sued the company in May, claiming he...

Whistleblower News From The Inside -- August 5, 2015

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team SEC set to adopt CEO pay ratio rule – The SEC is expected to adopt a final version of a proposed rule under Dodd-Frank that will require companies to provide investors with a ratio showing how the median pay of their workforce squares with their chief executive officers' compensation.  Reuters Allied Dental pays whistleblower $420,000 -- A New Jersey dental practice has agreed to...

Whistleblower News From The Inside — August 4, 2015

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Idaho anti-whistleblower Ag-Gag law declared unconstitutional -- According to the Court, “[p]rohibiting undercover investigators or whistleblowers from recording an agricultural facility’s operations inevitably suppresses a key type of speech because it limits the information that might later be published or broadcast.”  NYT Pediatric Services of America to pay $6.88M to settle whistleblower charges -- The whistleblowers, Yvette Odumosu and Sheila McCray, charged the company...

DOJ Catch Of The Week -- NuVasive Inc.

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team This week's Department of Justice "Catch of the Week" goes to California-based medical device manufacturer NuVasive Inc.  Yesterday, the company agreed to pay $13.5 million to resolve charges it improperly promoted the company’s CoRoent System for spine surgeries for uses not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.  The settlement also resolves allegations NuVasive paid illegal kickbacks to induce physicians to use the company’s...

Whistleblower News from the Inside -- July 27, 2015

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team Owner of Detroit Home Health Care Companies Sentenced to 80 Months in Prison for Role in $12.6 Million Fraud Scheme - A Michigan resident, Mohammed Sadiq, was sentenced to 80 months in prison late yesterday for his leading role in a $12.6 million Medicare fraud and tax fraud scheme.  Sadiq, who owned and directed operations at two home health care companies in Detroit, admitted that,...

Congress Highlights Medicare Part D Plans’ Failure To Prevent Fraud

Fraud in the Medicare Part D prescription drug program is getting the attention of not only the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General (HHS OIG) but also watchdogs on Capitol Hill.  On Tuesday, July 14, 2015, the House of Representatives’ Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing to examine two recent reports from HHS OIG examining improper spending in the Medicare Part D program....