Financial Pressures on U.S. Hospitals, Combined with New Funding, Increase Risk of Medicare and Medicaid Fraud

Hospitals are an institution we might have expected to be prepared for a healthcare crisis.  It is their job, after all, to provide emergency and intensive healthcare.  In fact, however, the COVID-19 crisis has put enormous pressures on hospitals.  With such new pressures come new risks of healthcare fraud at hospitals. The Financial Pressures on Hospitals in the COVID-19 Crisis Against the backdrop of heroic efforts by front-line hospital workers,...

Telehealth Expansion is Here to Stay, We Must Be Wary of Fraud

Telemedicine, or the provision of medical services through virtual means, has been rapidly expanding for the past several years. In 2010, barely a third of hospitals were offering telehealth services; by 2017, over three-quarters of hospitals were doing so.  Telemedicine has a lot of potential for good. It’s becoming increasingly accessible and affordable thanks to technological advancements. Innovations such as smartphones, Zoom, and Skype have allowed millions of new patients to access...

COVID Leaves Bags of Illicit Cash with Nowhere to Go

Few people may have given much thought to the actual mechanics of money laundering beyond rooting (or not) for Skyler and Walt’s carwash business.  Many non-television criminals do, in fact, use otherwise legitimate small businesses to “launder” their money, mixing ill-gotten gains in with legitimate profits.  The shutdown of the international economy has thus had a surprising consequence: illicit funds have nowhere to go to get “clean.” The Los Angeles...

Antitrust Violations, COVID-19, and the False Claims Act

As the federal government spends trillions of dollars to fight the coronavirus pandemic and alleviate its economic fallout, we can expect to see large chunks of that money misused and misappropriated by bad actors.  Now more than ever, we’ll need whistleblowers to come forward to report what they see on the ground, whether it’s an unqualified company seeking Paycheck Protection Program funds intended for small businesses, or unscrupulous healthcare providers...

Constantine Cannon Attorneys Call on Whistleblowers to Help Guard the Floodgates of Fraud

No matter how dire the issues facing the country, whenever the government hangs out a sign advertising free money, it invites rampant fraud.  News stories already abound of fraudsters preying on coronavirus fears, and the massive stimulus expenditures by the federal government, necessary as they are, will require enormous oversight to prevent fraudulent claims. With the government injecting $2 trillion into the economy, there will be opportunists seeking to get...

What is an IG and Why do IGs Matter to Whistleblowers and in the COVID-19 Response?

As the COVID-19 crisis continues, and the government rolls out massive spending programs and regulatory changes in response, there has been significant news about inspectors general.  Inspectors General – IGs – and the teams that work for them, often referred to as the Office of the Inspector General or OIG, play a critical role in preventing mismanagement, waste, fraud, and abuse in government programs.  Iowa Senator Charles Grassley this week...

Charges Filed in Shameful COVID-19 and Genetic-Cancer-Screening Test Scam

Erik Santos of Braselton, Georgia had run a fraudulent genetic cancer-screening-test scheme for months, then spotted an opportunity capitalize on fear surrounding COVID-19.  According to the criminal complaint, Santos targeted elderly persons to determine if they met certain eligibility requirements for testing under government health-care programs.  He passed the information along to co-conspirator testing companies, who would arrange for doctors (none of whom had previously treated the patients) to write...

Whistleblower Protection Caucus Co-Chairs Urge Barr to Establish COVID-19 FCA Task Force

Efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States will require potentially trillions of taxpayer dollars.  Given the amount of money involved, and the speed at which the crisis is progressing, Whistleblower Protection Caucus Co-Chairs Congresswomen Jackie Speier (CA-14) and Kathleen M. Rice (NY-4) have sent a letter to Attorney General Barr urging him to establish a nationwide COVID-19 fraud prevention task force. The task force would rely on...

Loosening the Rules on Telehealth to Fight Coronavirus May Also Result in New Medicare Fraud Schemes

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. government is loosening rules on telehealth to make it easier—and safer—for patients to speak to their healthcare providers.  These steps are an important, and necessary, step to curtail the spread of the virus and to facilitate the treatment of infected patients.  But it may also open the door to new telehealth fraud schemes by unscrupulous individuals and businesses. Changes to Telehealth Regulations...

The COVID-19 Crisis, Whistleblowers, and the Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team

As Constantine Cannon announced earlier this week, in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, we have implemented contingency plans to work remotely.  While our work locations have changed, we remain dedicated to our whistleblower clients, and our team continues to provide whistleblowers with support and legal guidance. With offices in New York, D.C., San Francisco, and London, the Constantine Cannon whistleblower team sees events unfolding up close and around the...