Whistleblower News From The Inside - March 20, 2015
By the C|C Whistleblower Lawyer Team
Cardiac monitoring company to pay $6.4M to settle FCA allegations — BioTelemetry Inc., a PA heart monitoring company, has agreed to pay $6.4 million to resolve allegations made under the False Claims Act that its subsidiary, CardioNet, overbilled Medicare and other federal health programs for Mobile Cardiac Outpatient Telemetry services when those services were not reasonable or medically necessary. DOJ
Adventist Health System to pay $5.4M to resolve FCA allegations –Adventist Health System Sunbelt Healthcare Corporation has agreed to pay $5.4 million to resolve claims that it violated the False Claims Act by providing radiation oncology services to Medicare and TRICARE beneficiaries that were not directly supervised by radiation oncologists or similarly qualified persons. DOJ
VA whistleblowers say they’ve been punished for speaking out — Two higher ups at the Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System say they have endured 10 months of retaliation from regional and local VA leaders, including the removal of duties, exclusion from important decisions, and investigations into their conduct. Montgomery Advisor
VA official says whistleblower bill unnecessary — Meghan Flanz, the VA’s director of accountability review, told members of a House subcommittee that legislation to strengthen laws protecting government whistleblowers is duplicative, unnecessary and unworkable. USA Today
SEC whistleblower retaliation push could face challenge – The SEC has started making it clear that it plans to do more than just hand out whistleblower bounties, pursuing enforcement against companies that allegedly mistreat whistleblowers, but defense attorneys are gearing up to fight against the SEC’s movement in that direction. WSJ
IRS tackles Tax ID theft fraud — Following a surge of fraudulent state tax refund claims submitted through TurboTax, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen has raised the possibility of delaying refunds or speeding up W-2 reporting, or both, so that the agency can better fight fraud. WSJ