Whistleblower News From The Inside -- June 25, 2015

By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team

DOJ Announces DaVita to Pay $450 Million to Resolve Allegations That it Sought Reimbursement for Unnecessary Drug Wastage – DaVita Healthcare Partners, Inc., the largest provider of dialysis services in the United States, has agreed to pay $450 million to resolve claims that it violated the False Claims Act by knowingly creating unnecessary waste in administering the drugs Zemplar and Venofer to dialysis patients, and then billing the federal government for such avoidable waste.  This civil settlement resolves allegations brought in a whistleblower action that DaVita devised and employed dosing grids and/or protocols specifically designed to create unnecessary waste of the drugs Venofer and Zemplar. DOJ

Owners of Orlando Health Care Clinic Plead Guilty to Engaging in $2.5 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme – Husband and wife owners of an Orlando health care clinic pleaded guilty to engaging in a $2.5 million health care fraud scheme.  According to admissions made in connection with their guilty pleas, between February 2012 and September 2014, the defendants fraudulently billed Medicare approximately $2.5 million on behalf of clinics they owned and operated for services that never were administered, including billing Medicare over $1.2 million for pentostatin, an expensive anticancer chemotherapeutic medication used to treat Leukemia despite never administering any pentostatin. DOJ

For-Profit Education Company to Pay $13 Million to Resolve Several Cases Alleging Submission of False Claims for Federal Student Aid – Education Affiliates (EA), a for-profit education company based in White Marsh, Maryland, has agreed to pay $13 million to the United States to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by submitting false claims to the Department of Education for federal student aid for students enrolled in its programs.  The settlement resolves five lawsuits filed under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, which permit private citizens to sue on behalf of the United States and share in the recovery.  As part of this resolution, the five whistleblowers will receive payments totaling approximately $1.8 million.  DOJ

Whistleblower Prompts WH Hostage Policy Changes – A Special Forces officer under investigation for whistleblowing on the government’s hostage negotiation policies believes his controversial actions have paid off, following the White House announcement Wednesday it would streamline a currently cumbersome bureaucracy and no longer threaten to punish families for negotiating with foreign terrorist captors themselves. U.S. News and World Report

U.S. May Hit Altegrity for Damages in USIS Whistleblower Case – The federal government may try to assess damages against Altegrity Inc., the bankrupt parent of a government security investigations contracting business that is been accused of fraud in a whistleblower lawsuit. WSJ

Whistleblowers could have citizenship revoked under proposed laws – Whistleblowers with dual citizenship who speak out on Australia’s national security – including those involved in allegations that Timor-Leste’s cabinet room was bugged – could face having their citizenship revoked under proposed laws. The Guardian