FCA Federal
This archive displays posts tagged as relevant to the federal False Claims Act. You may also be interested in the following pages:
October 5, 2018
Partner Gordon Schnell was quoted in the Law360 article, Outside Whistleblowers Key To $625M Amerisource FCA Deal. Click here to read the article.October 5, 2018
Contractor Martin Enterprises, Inc. and its surety Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company have agreed to pay $61,016 to settle claims under the False Claims Act that Martin falsely claimed payment for work under the federal Blight Elimination Program, which is funded by the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Martin had been required to fill excavation sites in Ft. Wayne, Indiana with clean fill, but instead filled them with construction debris. USAO N.D. In.October 1, 2018
Pharmaceutical distributor AmerisourceBergen Corporation will pay $625 million to the federal government and 43 states to settle claims that between 2001 and 2014 a pre-filled syringe program at one of its subsidiaries, Medical Initiatives, Inc., violated federal law. Despite lacking the proper licensing and registration, MII opened FDA-approved sterile vials of oncology drugs, and in a non-sterile environment, pooled the medicine and transfered it into non-FDA approved pre-filled syringes which were then sold to oncology practices and physicians. This practice allowed Amerisource to capture the "overfill" in the original FDA-approved sterile vials and produce a larger number of pre-filled syringes. AmerisourceBergen also resolved claims that it provided unlawful kickbacks to physicians to induce them to purchase pre-filled syringes rather than vials. The settlement resolved three qui tam actions initiated by whistleblowers Michael Mullen, Daniel Sypula, Kelly Hodge, and Omni Healthcare, Inc.; a payment of over $93 million will be made to relators. Previously, in September, 2017, AmerisourceBergen Specialty Group pleaded guilty to illegally distributing misbranded drugs and agreed to pay $260 million in criminal fines and forfeitures. USAO E.D.N.Y.; NYOctober 1, 2018
HealthCare Partners Holdings LLC, a DaVita entity, will pay $270 million to settle allegations arising from DaVita's collection and submission of diagnosis data for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries to whom DaVita provided healthcare services. HealthCare Partners, an independent physician association, allegedly instituted practices that caused the submission of incorrect diagnosis codes - diagnosis codes that increased payments from CMS to the MAOs, and then from the MAOs to DaVita/HealthCare Partners. DaVita had voluntarily disclosed some practices, including improper medical coding guidance provided to physicians. In addition, a whistleblower, James Swoben, alleged in a False Claims Act qui tam case that HealthCare Partners had engaged in improper "one-way chart reviews," which added diagnosis codes identified from the review of patient charts, but did not delete previously-submitted diagnosis codes that were not supported by the patient charts. Swoben will receive a whistleblower reward of $10,199,100. DOJSeptember 28, 2018
Kalispell Regional Healthcare System and six of its related entities agreed to pay $24 million to settle a False Claims Act case based on its compensation arrangements with physicians, which were alleged to violate the Stark Law, and other arrangements alleged to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute. Between 2010 and 2018, KRH entities reportedly paid excessive and above-market full-time compensation to more than 60 physicians, even if those physicians worked far less than full-time. In addition, some of the KRH entities were alleged to unlawfully seek referrals from physicians through excessive compensation arrangements and the provision of administrative services at below market rates. Jon Mohatt, the former CFO of a related entity, initiated the action with a qui tam filing; Mohatt will receive $5.4 million dollars as a relator's share of the government's recovery. DOJSeptember 28, 2018
Sentient Science Corporation has agreed to pay $2,675,000 to settle allegations that it made false claims for funding under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program administered by the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy. SBIR grants are intended to stimulate technological and research innovations by small businesses. However, the company took advantage of the program by claiming expenses that had not yet been incurred, claiming to use third-parties in order to receive additional funding, and using less qualified employees to perform work. USAO WDNYSeptember 28, 2018
RS Compounding, Inc, and its owner, Renier Gobea, have agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle a False Claims Act-based lawsuit by whistleblower McKenzie Stepe that the now defunct compounding pharmacy had overcharged TRICARE, at times by as much as 10,000% more than it charged members of the general public. The alleged fraud occurred between 2012 and 2014. According to the DOJ, TRICARE's costs for compounded drugs have ballooned from $5 million to over $500 million in the span of ten years, then increased by over 150% between 2014 and 2015 alone. Tragically, the whistleblower passed away before the settlement was finalized, so her estate will receive her relator's share of $264,000. DOJCatch of the Week — Health Management Associates
Posted 09/27/18
