Whistleblower Case

September 11, 2017

Family Medicine Centers of South Carolina LLC agreed to pay $1.56 million, and the company's principal owner and former CEO Dr. Stephen F. Serbin and its former Laboratory Director Victoria Serbin, agreed to pay $443,000 to settle charges they violated the False Claims Act and Stark Law.  Specifically, the government alleged FMC’s incentive compensation plan improperly paid FMC’s physicians a percentage of the value of laboratory and other diagnostic tests that they personally ordered through FMC.  Dr. Serbin allegedly initiated this program and reminded FMC’s physicians that they needed to order tests and other services through FMC in order to increase FMC’s profits and to ensure that their take-home pay remained in the upper level nationwide for family practice doctors.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by former FMC physician Dr. Catherine A. Schaefer.  She will receive a whistleblower award of $340,510 from the proceeds of the government's recovery. DOJ

September 8, 2017

Galena Biopharma Inc. agreed to pay more than $7.55 million to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act by paying kickbacks to doctors to induce them to prescribe its fentanyl-based drug Abstral.  These included providing more than 85 free meals to doctors and staff from a single, high-prescribing practice; paying doctors thousands of dollars to attend an “advisory board,” and paying roughly $92,000 to a physician-owned pharmacy under a performance-based rebate agreement.  Two of the doctors who received remuneration from Galena were convicted and later sentenced to prison.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by Lynne Dougherty.  She will receive a whistleblower award of more than $1.2 million from the proceeds of the government's recovery. DOJ

September 7, 2017

Connecticut substance abuse treatment provider the Hartford Dispensary and the Hartford Dispensary Endowment Corporation and its former CEO Paul McLaughlin agreed to pay $627,000 to resolve allegations they violated the False Claims Acts by falsely representing and certifying to federal and state authorities that Hartford Dispensary had a medical director, as defined by relevant regulations, who was performing the duties and responsibilities required by federal and state law.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed by former Hartford Dispensary employees Russell Buchner and Charles Hatheway under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act.  They will receive a whistleblower award of roughly $113,000 from the proceeds of the government's recovery.  DOJ (DCT)

September 5, 2017

Novo Nordisk Inc. agreed to pay $58.65 million to settle charges it violated the False Claims Act and Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by failing to comply with the FDA-mandated Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) for its Type II diabetes medication Victoza.  The New Jersey based pharmaceutical manufacturer is a subsidiary of Denmark’s Novo Nordisk A/S.  At the time of Victoza’s FDA approval in 2010, the FDA required a REMS to mitigate the potential risk in humans of a rare form of cancer called Medullary Thyroid Carcinoma (MTC) associated with the drug. Under the REMS, Novo Nordisk was required to disclose to physicians the potential risk. If it failed to comply with these disclosure requirements, including requirements to communicate accurate risk information, the drug would be considered misbranded under the law.  According to the government, Novo Nordisk failed to comply with the REMS requirements, providing information to physicians that created the false or misleading impression that the Victoza REMS-required message was erroneous, irrelevant, or unimportant.  The allegations originated in several whistleblower lawsuits filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act. The whistleblowers who brought these actions will receive a yet-to-be-determined whistleblower award from the proceeds of the government’s recovery. Whistleblower Insider

September 5, 2017

National dental chain Dental Dreams, LLC agreed to pay $1.375 million to resolve allegations it improperly billed the Massachusetts Medicaid program for unnecessary and unjustifiable dental procedures.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by Dental Dreams former employee.  The whistleblower will receive an award from the proceeds of the government's recovery.  DOJ (DMA)

September 1, 2017

New Mexico-based Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center and its partner Texas-based Christus Health agreed to pay $12.24 million to resolve allegations they violated the False Claims Act by making illegal donations to county governments which were used to fund the state share of Medicaid payments to the hospital.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by a former Los Alamos County, New Mexico Indigent Healthcare Administrator.  The whistleblower will receive an award of $2.25 million from the proceeds of the government's recovery. DOJ

August 23, 2017

St. Agnes Healthcare agreed to pay roughly $123,000 to settle charges of violating the False Claims Act by billing Medicare for evaluation and management services at a higher reimbursement rate than the Federal health care programs allowed.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by Jonathan Safren, a former St. Agnes cardiologist.  He will receive a whistleblower award of $20,000 from the proceeds of the government's recovery. DOJ (DMD)

August 17, 2017

Pharmaceutical companies Mylan Inc. and Mylan Specialty L.P. agreed to pay $465 million to settle charges they violated the False Claims Act by purposely misclassifying EpiPen as a generic drug to avoid paying higher Medicaid rebates.  Under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, state Medicaid programs are entitled to larger rebates for brand-name drugs compared to generics.  According to the government, Mylan circumvented this program and its purpose by erroneously reporting EpiPen as a generic drug to Medicaid so it could demand massive price increases in the private market while avoiding its corresponding rebate obligations to Medicaid.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by competing pharmaceutical manufacturer Sanofi-Aventis US.  Sanofi will receive a whistleblower award of roughly $38.7 million from the proceeds of the government’s recovery. Whistleblower Insider

August 15, 2017

Virginia-based Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. agreed to pay $9.2 million to settle charges it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly overbilling the government for labor on U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships at its shipyards in Pascagoula, Mississippi.  According to the government, the company mischarged labor incurred on particular contracts to other contracts, even though the costs were not actually incurred by those contracts.  The government also claimed the company billed the Navy and Coast Guard for dive operations to support ship hull construction that did not actually occur.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by former Huntington Ingalls employee Bryon Faulkner.  He will receive a whistleblower award of roughly $1.6 million. DOJ

August 14, 2017

Maryland-based Midasco, LLC agreed to pay $450,000 to settle charges it violated the False Claims Act failing to comply with the Davis-Bacon Act for not paying workers who performed electrical work on the Virginia I-495 HOV/HOT Lanes Project the prevailing wage required by federal labor standards.  The government alleged Midasco instead improperly classified workers as supervisors and paid them a salary in order to avoid paying the higher wages they were entitled to as electricians.  The allegations originated in a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act by David Ridley.  He will receive a yet-to-be-determined whistleblower award from the proceeds of the government's recovery.  DOJ (EDVA)