Recent Settlements Show Kickbacks are Always a DOJ Enforcement Priority

The Department of Justice regularly highlights the areas of fraudulent conduct it intends to target as enforcement priorities.  These identified enforcement priorities tend to cover burgeoning areas of fraud or particular misbehavior especially ripe or prevalent because of the particular times we live in.  As might be expected, DOJ's current listing of priorities includes fraud related to the pandemic, opioids, the elderly, electronic health records, telehealth services, and as most...

Catch of the Week: Bayada Home Health Care Settles Kickback Allegations for $17 Million in Case Demonstrating that Kickbacks Come in Many Forms

Last week, Bayada Home Health Care, Inc., a national home health company with more than $1.5 billion in reported revenues and offices in twenty-two states, agreed to pay the United States $17 million to settle allegations that it violated the federal Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS).  The AKS prohibits paying illegal remuneration in any form to induce business or referrals paid for with federal health care dollars, and the Bayada case demonstrates...

Catch of the Week: Another Pharma Company, Incyte, Settles FCA Claims For Kickbacks to a Charitable Foundation

The Department of Justice announced this week that Incyte Corporation, a Delaware pharmaceutical company, has agreed to pay $12.6 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by paying kickbacks to a charitable foundation to increase prescriptions for the drug Jakafi, which is used to treat myelofibrosis, a form of leukemia that causes extensive scarring in bone marrow and leads to severe anemia and fatigue.  This is...

Catch of the Week: Roche and Humana Agree to Settle Kickbacks in the Medicare Advantage Program

A recent settlement of a whistleblower case might be a sign of things to come for litigation under the False Claims Act (FCA) in the whistleblower program. Pharmaceutical company, Roche, and Medicare Advantage insurer, Humana, have agreed to pay $12.5 million to resolve allegations that the companies violated the anti-kickback statute. This is the first FCA settlement resulting out of a pharmaceutical company allegedly paying kickbacks to a Medicare Advantage...

Constantine Cannon Settles Case Alleging Kickbacks to Multi-Practice Physicians’ Group for Referrals to Wholly Owned Ambulatory Surgery Center – Whistleblower Was Former CEO

Constantine Cannon, on behalf of whistleblower Jeffery Neuberger, has settled a False Claims Act action against Mid Dakota Clinic and a related entity.  Mr. Neuberger, the former CEO of the medical group, filed his case in 2017 alleging a scheme in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) between the medical group and its wholly owned ambulatory surgery center (ASC).  At issue was a financial arrangement whereby all of the multi-practice...

A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing: the Government's Latest Stand against Patient Kickbacks Disguised as Charity

Mary Inman and Max Voldman were published in the RAC Monitor (July 29, 2020).

Newly Unsealed Whistleblower Lawsuit Alleges Drug Giant McKesson Gave Doctors Illegal Kickbacks in the Form of Free Software

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 maximizing profits for doctors and McKesson.  One of McKesson’s tools, called...

Regeneron: The Government’s Latest Stand against Patient Kickbacks

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 the Chronic Disease Fund, to cover Eylea co-pays, and not any of...

EHR vendor Settles Landmark Case Alleging Acceptance of Kickbacks from Pharma Company to Steer Opioid Prescriptions

Constantine Cannon partners Mary Inman and Anne Hartman published in RAC Monitor, EHR vendor Settles Landmark Case Alleging Acceptance of Kickbacks from Pharma Company to Steer Opioid Prescriptions.  Click here to read the article.

Catch of the Week: Practice Fusion Pays $145 Million for EHR Kickbacks and Misrepresentations about Software

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 pharmaceutical company that made the drugs. In...